


Salience

by CharlieMcarthy



Series: Resonance Timeline (TF Fics) [3]
Category: Transformers (Bay Movies), Transformers - All Media Types
Genre: Consent, Cuddling, Kissing, Love, M/M, Mutual Masturbation, Slash, Sparkbond, Sparkmates, Voyeurism, Xenophilia, and humans love to pet apex predators, barn husbands, cade yeager trying to befriend every freaking transformer bc hes a human, exploring optimus choosing a human for once is fun, friends - Freeform, me using lots of IDW and Prime and G1 stuff together and calling it a fic with PLOT, prime choose a human and boy is he a dumb one but they wuv each other, sequal to Resonance, space, still trying to decide - Freeform, will update rating when stuff Goes Down or sex happens i promise, yeager project
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-07
Updated: 2021-01-15
Packaged: 2021-03-06 04:34:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 23,846
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25767505
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CharlieMcarthy/pseuds/CharlieMcarthy
Summary: n. the quality of being particularly noticeable or important. Optimus Prime and Cade Yeager travel through the stars to return to Earth, changing perspectives and nurturing their budding sparkbond. For when you are no longer alone in the Universe, it becomes easy to find the courage to explore it. Together, as one. barn husbands, post!TLK, sequel to Resonance, part2
Relationships: Optimus Prime/Cade Yeager
Series: Resonance Timeline (TF Fics) [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1584457
Comments: 20
Kudos: 97





	1. Prologue: Endless

**Author's Note:**

> I’ve realized in order to further plot-things for my one shot collection 93% Stardust, that I NEED to get this story up and running. Whoops lmao. Otherwise nothing will make sense, esp when I start introducing new characters I’ve wanted to explore with Optimus/Cade. 
> 
> It’s recommended to read Resonance to understand the upcoming events of Salience! Enjoy!

**Prologue: Endless**

_Who are we, really?_

_In the grand scheme of things, it is a question that holds some traction. It bears repeating often, because the life unexamined is the life not worth living—so the saying goes._

_The dead planet of Cybertron hung in space._

_It drifted, aimless, war-torn, and desolate. It was silent, its cities sacked, its jutting peaks crumbled, its acid ocean dried up. Sieges, betrayals, battles, sacks, and conquests left their deep gouges and te planet was brittle and see-through.  
_

_And yet, it drifted still._

_Past the buildings, under the sea, and into the deepest depths of Cybertron—its core, to be precise—there was Darkness. Only Darkness._

_And then something New happened. There was a pulse, a flicker of light, like faint starlight._

_Then Darkness again._

_It was not like the glow of Quintessa, the Great Deceiver. It was not like the raging burn-fire of Unicorn, the World Eater._

_It was nothing like those Forces at all, although some might liken it to a single heart-beat._

_The problem is, of course, a heart should ideally beat more than once every month or so…_

**_‘I sense…my Prime…returning to Me.’_ ** _The voice was ageless, and distant._

**_‘…and I sense something else, too… No matter.’_ ** _Silence reigned._

_Who are we? Why are we here?_

_If we are stardust, then maybe someday we will all return to the stars, and see what lies beyond the beyond._ _Perhaps the lucky ones have already done so._

_Perhaps they aren’t always so lucky._


	2. Discovery

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Womp womp, I've had the pro and chap 1 written and ready for a while, so they got to go up at once 8>

_“There are no happy endings. Endings are the saddest part. So just give me a happy middle and a very happy start.” –Shel Silverstien_

**Chapter 1. Discovery**

It was a small planet.

Oh, sure, it had a great view. Charming, even. And it had a sturdy, craggy, hard landscape and outer shell and all. The boiling water in the small lakes that dotted the land made an interesting sound, as it gurgled and thrashed. Craters that had appeared long ago warped the landscape. They pocked marked the planet’s face, but its weather system was fleeting and bare and so there was little to be done in the way of healing. The planet was also too close to a red, burning gas giant to maintain life well—that is, the type of life you or I would picture.

The small planet floated dismally through space. To make matters worse, it also had little in the way of resources—unless you knew where to look.

Cade Yeager, arguably, did not. He was lost, miserably so in fact, and it was beginning to grate on his nerves.

“Why does every fraggin’ rock look the same?” He demanded of the air, his voice projecting through the speaker on either side of his helmet. “Chrissakes, I swear I’ve walked by this thing three times already…”

_‘Thou has all the directional bearing of a wounded honey-bee.’_ muttered Cade’s armor.

“Oh, is that so? I don’t see the _Great and Mighty Excalibur_ getting us out of this mess.” The inventor snapped back, heaving himself up to higher vantage point.

In all fairness, he didn’t use his thrusters on his boots because he was not used to wearing metal boots that _had_ thrusters in the first goddamn place. Leave him alone.

Cade’s eyes wandered, squinting tight to see through the soft red haze his visor gave his entire field of vision. If he could describe the strange sensation of wearing the Talisman’s armor, he might run out of words before he could properly convince another human what it was like.

Therefore, I will describe it, dear reader, while our plucky inventor looks for a way out of his current sticky situation.

Imagine a Transformer. Small, blocky. Screened visor. Heavy, blockish gauntlets. A small jet pack between the shoulder plates made for height, not distance. Plating that juts and curves and melts against the body, slotting and sliding. A knight’s armor to be sure—although a knight’s armor that seals the wearer from outside temperatures and gasses and knows to translates the outer air into oxygen. The resulting CO2 that Cade exhales is vented out of a one way vent. This was a necessary upgrade, and one Cade had been warned about utilizing if he wanted to explore the planets he and his little traveling brigade came upon.

When Cade first wore the armor that the Talisman blossomed into, it was battleship gray, and frankly _boring._ He had pestered and poked and prodded the Talisman—and finally, now, he had some color. The Talisman had scanned another certain Transformer at Cade’s urging, and so now the ancient armor that King Arthur once wore as he rode into battle was a bit more…modernized for space-travel as well as functional and flashy. It was a space-suit with reinforced outerwear, and it seemed to fit Cade like a glove.

In truth, Cade looked a bit like a miniature Optimus Prime, and if anyone knew the two of them they would know that this would be just the way Cade wanted it.

“Okay. Nothing. Great.” Cade heaved a tired sigh. He glanced at the levels, remembered they were still in Cybertronian’s strange, blockish script and rolled his eyes.

“See anything, ‘Cal? Or…sense anything, I dunno.”

_‘I see us staying lost on this miserable rock, and wasting away until you are skeletal remains and I am lost once more to time and legend.’_ The Talisman’s voice was stronger than usual, even if Cade was the only one who could hear it. _‘ **Not** exactly how I pictured my Fate, young heir.’_

“Listen—I came out here in the first place because _you_ said you sensed a Transformer here!” Cade retorted, shifting uneasily in his strange space boots and glancing down a rocky ravine.

_‘Perhaps I was wrong. Or perhaps we were Too Late, and they have Offlined.’ The_ Talisman’s voice was taut like a violin string, and twice as prone to snapping.

“That’s _not_ an option.” Cade said angrily. “Optimus Prime’s medic doesn’t fucken’ get there _‘too late.’”_

He would save every last one if he could. He owed it to the Autobots.

Excalibur was silent then, so Cade turned his attention back to the task at hand.

Lost. Right.

“Let’s go…” Cade turned in place a few times, then stopped at what might be considered North, were they near _their_ solar system with _their_ familiar stars. “This way.”

_‘Brilliant. I shall be ready to greet our favorite rock formation for the fourth time most graciously—‘_

“Bite me, ‘Cal.”

* * *

The planet was small remember—but big enough for a human to get lost on, and perhaps that was the most frustrating factor of all.

By the time Cade made it around the ravine he had been avoiding earlier, he was tired and worn out. The Talisman’s armor could hold for much longer, so he wasn’t afraid of that. He _was_ afraid of returning to the ship with nothing to show for his troubles, or for losing his footing and breaking his ass on the way down to somewhere deep and dark and dangerous—because wouldn’t that just be his luck?

After all, he had begged and pleaded his way down to this miserable hunk of stone. And while the field was kind of exciting initially, now…

Well, exploring a wasteland planet devoid of any semblance of interesting life left a bit to be desired.

“I hope Grimwing is having better luck finding that Energon source he mentioned. Then at least this pitstop won’t be a total bust.”

_‘…what in Solus’ designation does a woman’s chest have to do with any of this?’_ The Talisman asked in bewilderment, causing Cade to laugh.

“No, it’s—it’s like a—it’s not that, jesus man…” He broke off into laughter again, and the moment caused him to pause. On instinct, Cade looked around, and almost tripped when he saw something long and looming down below them.

“Heey,” he whistled in appreciation, “You see that? Alright, this is what I’m talking about! Now that has got to be something!”

Cade Yeager was right of course, but anything can be something. This was more of a Something, and that became clear to the man as he jogged toward it. He stopped before the jutting, ebony black jumble of Whatever It Was and studied it appraisingly.

“Maybe it’s a Transformer! They can hide in plain sight as anything, after all, look at Canopy…”

_‘Perhaps.’_ If the Talisman sounded distant and lost in thought, Cade was too circling the strange artifact to pick up on it.

It was not a Transformer at all—it was, in fact, a large chunk of…Something that _looked_ Transformer-like. It was huge, well, it was bigger than Cade Yeager, anyway. It was black, but Cade could see thin trails of circuits that might cast light if the section of whatever-it-was could be illuminated.

“What…what is it? It looks...familiar. It reminds me of…” Cade halted before the leaning tower, his helm tilting. Finally, feeling so inclined that he simply had to; he reached out and touched the metal-housing case.

_‘Young heir! Do not touch—‘_

Cade’s world went white, vision blinded and mind right out of body. Cade yelled, shocked and spooked and flung back, trembling all over as his palms warmed as if he’d shoved them over an open fire. The eerie structure was illuminated, as if it flared to life only at Cade’s touch.

Or…perhaps it was because Cade’s touch which was also technically the Talisman’s touch.

“IS it a Transformer?” Cade gaped, then frowned in uncertainty. “No…it’s…what is it, ‘Cal?”

_‘Home.’_ The Talisman whispered softly, as if pained, then fell silent.

Cade frowned, patting his hands in puzzlement. The warmth was gone, fading quick as it had come. He hadn’t even been able to think, whatever force it was that just hit him—them. Cade turned his gloved hand over a few times in thought, wriggling his fingers as he stared at his palm and considered these words.

“Home?” The inventor echo, looking up now. “Cybertron…? Do you mean _this_ is Cybertron? Or, well—“ Cade winced sheepishly. “Some of it.” Transformers were big fuckers, and they needed a big planet to sustain them, after all. This part of Cybertron was only a smallest fraction at best. A sliver. And the planet had traveled through space at least twice now that Cade could recall.

“Last time we saw Cybertron, it was lifting off of Earth where Quintessa had landed it…then it just….went back into Space. We haven’t seen it since. Did this piece land here before that? …or after?” Cade murmured out loud.

If nothing else, it meant they were heading the right way back to Earth. Cade supposed this was a comfort.

The Talisman was still silent, which was so unlike the strange Transformerian artifact even Cade was beginning to get the spooks.

“Should we take it with us? I don’t know if it’ll fit on the ship, but—“ And that made Cade pause and think again. Why did he feel so compelled to bring this thing with him? It wasn’t exactly carry on size, and the ship they had swiped from Combatron was already cramped.

_‘Forgive me, young heir. Seems I have misread thyne own instincts…and led thou on a quest for a God’s broken tomb. Nothing more.’_

“Broken—!! Oh—you mean…you thought you sensed a Transformer here? On this little planet?” Cade asked, hands settling on his hips. He leaned close to the black chunk of whatever the hell metal it was, Cybertron or not, but dared not touch it again.

He hadn’t even felt the other side of his spark when he touched this thing. He wasn’t eager to cut himself off from his beloved again like that.

“Wonder what made you feel something like that…I mean, Cybertron was their home, it wasn’t a Transformer, right?” But he made a mental note to ask his best friend later, feeling like he was overlooking something. 

_‘Old ghosts, perhaps.’_

“Maybe…” but he didn’t like that answer, because it seemed too easy and because it didn’t address nearly half the questions Cade had that lingered on the back of his tongue. 

The red giant was lower in the sky by now, its strange orbit signaling to Cade that the temperature would lower. And what was a brisk, chilly night on Earth would become far too cold for him to stay out here—Talisman’s protection or not.

“This blows, Cal. Let’s get outta here, and go find Grimwing, see if he needs any help...”

Cade turned on his heel, hands flying up on instinct. This is a good instinct to have when half a dozen ebony sharp spears are pointed at your chest, and Cade tensed in surprised fright and insult.

“I thought you said this planet was inhabitable,” He hissed under his breath.

_‘I thought you meant to humans and Transformers!’_ The Talisman rebuked, _‘I cannot know of any other species besides yours and mine! I am a Transformer-talisman, not a crystal ball!’_

_“Why the fuck_ would I mean only humans and—alright, alright…” a reptilian growl cut him off, one of the biggest spears of bent and curved metal jabbing at the inventor covered in Transformer-armor. “Just take it easy…”

It can be very frustrating to be a non native speaker in another country. It is equally more so, if not worse, to be an entirely different species in a non-native galaxy with not even a trace of familiarity between you and the local populace.

And these creatures were many things—noisy, slithering, spiky and armed to the teeth types of things—but they were not human and not happy looking.

They had too many eyes, crude plating covering sable brown and grey scales—they blended well into their armor and their landscape, Cade now realized—and had hooked beaks with large nostrils, too many sharp teeth for tearing. They looked like perhaps some ancient Jurassic crocodile, thousands of years ago, stood up and decided to invent the stick instead of a human, and seemed to keep their hostile ways as they evolved as a species, walking on two clawed feet and using swaying tails for balance.

They also seemed very, very angry at Cade, who wondered if it was just him or because he had perhaps just touched an effigy they revered and caused it to glow sharply and illuminate his position. Judging by the sharp swords and spears that looked terribly familiar, he had a feeling it was a combination of both.

_‘Clever species—using chunks of Cybertron for metals and weapons. I cannot best that which I am made of so easily…’_ The Talisman warned, causing Cade to let out a hiss of disappointment.

To his credit, Cade Yeager tried to make a run for it. But the alien lizard tribe was faster, and lighter than a man running in clunky armor, and he was soon tripped and sent sprawling. The biggest one, with red clay smeared across his scales to signal his power among the group, pinned and shrieked down at him, gurgling dangerously in its throat.

“Uh…’Cal? Any ideas?” Cade squeaked.

_‘…woudst thou perhaps consider that there is nothing wrong with calling for one’s knight during times of dire?’_ A tired pause.

_‘I pray of you.’_ Which was the Talisman’s polite way of saying, ‘Please, you stupid man.’

“Alright, alright!” Cade grumbled, his hesitance dying out. “Fine…I feel like I failed him, but…let’s give this a shot.”

To die would be True Failure, and even worse than his current predicament.

Fine. Even stubborn Cade could admit once in a blue moon he’d almost been licked, and that it was time to call in Reinforcements.

Cade Yeager went stone still and silent. He stopped fighting. Stopped struggling. His weight relaxed back, gloves falling open as his palms pushed into the ground. He closed his eyes, and he called with his heart, with his mind, with every fiber of his entire small being. _‘You? You? Where-You? Come! Need!’_

He went from calling to answering suddenly—long and hard and clear and certain—and he smiled when the world erupted into chaos around him.

**_‘Here.’_** A voice thundered through his heart to his mind, rattling the marrow in his bones.

The strange, scaly monster that was pressing down so hard on him suddenly leaned back and squawked the loudest. The others of its odd tribe rolled and squirmed around themselves, staring upward in horror and fear as they backed into a defensive and unsure cluster of dented metal and dusty scales.

There was Something in the sky. And then it came down hard, behind Cade, so he could not see what it was, but he did not need to. He stopped his Calling, heart-fluttering in his chest from the growing strain. But he was safe now. He knew it, as true as anything Real.

The dry, cracked ground quivered beneath his spine as something stalked over to them; even through his armor he could feel it. He could see it, too, the way the small stones hopped about.

Above them, the red giant that bore down from above was suddenly blotted out—casting the small area in imposing shadow. The scent of iron and something else metallic, burned through the air, as engines rolled from above like thunder over a far off hill.

The human opened his eyes and turned to his left, watching with endless satisfaction and love as the glittering titan that was Cade’s other-half and best friend step round the rocks with powerful, sure-footed steps. His blazing optics were boring down on the alien-lizards, and the blue-orbs flashed with growing reproach as he calmly advanced toward them, all calculated steps like a lion spotting the smallest gazelle in the herd.

But Cade Yeager looked up at Optimus Prime, and only grinned in warm, loving relief. 

“Hey big rig.” Cade gave a casual wave. “Uhm—kinda hit a snag. ...my bad?”

Optimus took one propriety glance at his little sparkmate, and snorted.


	3. Reconfig

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Moving right along dunga dun dunga dun. Also yo updated the end notes of this fic to add the playlist to the Resonance series :D it’s a spotify link enjoyy

_“There is a beautiful thing inside you that is thousands of years old.”_ –Nikita Gill

**Chapter 2: Reconfig**

“Do you think I’ll _ever_ get used to this?” Cade smiled, more of a sheepish grimace that came with hunched shoulders and weak light in his darting eyes as he was stared down by a 22 foot tall giant. A giant that he was now, more or less, _soul-married_ to for the rest of his natural days. Or however long _Optimus_ was going to live, apparently…

“I think if you stop acting without using your head, you will eventually learn to adjust to being my partner and the heavy responsibility now entails.” Optimus answered. The big mech’s movements were jerky, optics flaring bright and plating ruffled and spiked up in some places, as if he still fought with himself to go back down to the planet and finish the job of hunting the planet’s little lizard-like denizens. Of course, considering the noise of the Prime’s blaster being figured into the air, the alien were probably still running.

“Jeez, big rig,” Cade murmured, “I said I was sorry. How was I supposed to know the place wasn’t abandoned? It certainly looked like it from up here.”

‘Up here’ being the little cargoship that he and Optimus had absconded with when escaping the smoking remains of Combatron. ‘Up here’ being their only point of safety, as the little space ship hung patiently, awaiting their return as Prime rocketed upward into its open belly holding tight to the man covered in the Talisman’s protective armor.

Grimwing and Blackbeak had already returned, and they roared or clicked their happiness at their new commanders’ sudden appearance. Cade let Grimwing, in his beast-like griffin mode, stalk up to him and rub against him, scraping their plating. Cade had learned it was how Predacons greeted close-companions, and it was a touching gesture so Cade encouraged it anytime he could. Optimus didn’t seem to mind, either, which was nice. Jealousy was overrated, especially between friends.

“Found much trouble?” Grimwing _hrr-gruffed_ in his broken but understandable enough English. While Grimwing could understand the words well-enough, he did not put much processing power on vocalizing as correctly. Prime said this was simply a natural Predacon response—even more than the normal Transformer, a Predacon preferred action over chat, and relied on body language as any other transformer did. Cade, who had spent the better part of two years now with the mute Bumblebee, had little trouble picking up Grimwing’s patterns of communication. And of course, there was always Blackbeak, who screeched single words and generally was easy to translate _because_ he was so loud and tended to repeat himself.

“Cade and the local populace got into an argument over a hunk of Cybertron’s remains.” Prime snorted in amused agreement at Grimwing’s glance of piqued interest. “It went about as well as you could expect.”

“But Optimus bailed me out, like he always does.” Yeager boasted as his armor fell away, shrinking and folding down to return as the ever-flowing, ever-aware disc-shaped Talisman.

_‘Pray, Young heir, such reliance on your sparkmate will only cause unbalanced afflictions on you both. And expectations. Woulds’t thy negligence be any worse...’_

“Awh, bite me, Excalibur.” Cade muttered, his cheeks flushed as he turned from Optimus and strode into the back of the small ship.

The man busied himself with checking the Energon cache Grimwing had hauled back. Nothing truly remarkable, not even to Cade’s newly-trained eye, and only enough to last the three Transformers a few Earth weeks, especially with one being a full-grown Predacon and one being a freaking Prime. They had more than double that to travel, and so would need to stop for another source sooner rather than later.

Cade glanced outside, watching the blackness of space travel alongside them. It was almost comforting, the view. They had passed a few planets and plenty of asteroids for a week now. The ship’s autopilot was nothing close to Teletran, Optimus had told him, but it was smart enough to steer them through the two solar systems they had to get through to return to Earth. Mostly, Optimus just had to keep the ship refueled, avoid unnecessary damage from landings or stray asteroid-belts, or any attacks from other ships or Transformers. Those last two possibilities worried Cade, but so far they hadn’t even come across another Transformer, and the lizard-creatures were the first aliens Cade had seen besides what monsters he’d seen on Combatron.

“How long ‘til the ship needs to be refueled?” Cade asked.

“A while yet.” Optimus, who was standing up front and checking the systems, answered back. “There is a small planet between us that I want to set the ship down on fully—not above—to get fuel. Hopefully we can trade something for it, otherwise…”

“Could just take.” Grimwing, still resting in his brutal beast mode of a giant black and emerald griffin, snarled in appreciation at the thought of a challenge. Blackbeak warbled mid-preening and nodded eagerly. “Take through force, like Predacon and Prime should naturally.”

“Catch more flies with honey than vinegar, Grimwing.” Cade scolded softly as he walked up to the big beast and stroked that ebony plating. Grimwing looked sour at the words but purred roughly at Cade’s ministrations. Blackbeak let this go on for only a moment before he hoped down and pecked at Cade’s hand, demanding that it was now his turn to be pet by Cade’s soft-hand.

“I will **not** bully others.” Prime agreed without looking at either of them. “I already feel guilty enough for what I did back on that little orange planet.”

Cade felt a twinge of reflection and prickling shame across their odd sparkbond—it was not coming from him, and not from Excalibur, who he only ‘felt’ when the artifact was speaking to him, like a pulse of light from a small flashlight. And if the Talisman was a flashlight, Optimus was a lighthouse, one that stayed solely focused on Cade for as long as the Prime wanted to be. This was purely raw but filtered to a thin thread—it was coming from Optimus only and he seemed to be trying to hide it, and this time Cade did feel regret.

“Why don’t we try getting some rest, guys? Grimwing—you’re still building your stamina back after being starved on Combatron. Optimus…well, I just want to be with you, actually. But I’m exhausted too, okay?” To punctuate his point, Cade rubbed a fist into his eye, and rolled his other shoulder. Apparently a sparkbond allowed two partners to level out each other’s pain, and exhaustion and even their hunger in times of dire, or war. So far, Cade had only felt a marked difference in his appetite—he was never hungry for days at a time, and felt no difference in his strength or health or mind. Yet when he was he was absolutely starving. Prime downing an Energon cube made the man feel like he had eaten two Thanksgiving turkeys with a full side of stuffing and cranberry sauce to wash it down. But by the next day, Cade felt normal, as if he were still eating at usual hours. This, according to Optimus, was quite normal. The problem was two Transformers ate the same amount—even a tank versus a slender seeker model, the differences weren’t big enough to notice the balancing out of one another’s hunger. But a human and a Transformer…that was much different, and so their eating habits were fighting it out occasionally.

But so far, neither of them had quite figured out how to balance the other’s varied sleep schedules. They had taken to resting and recharging as they usually did—Cade tried to sleep when he was tired and Prime watched over him or joined him a light, comfortable doze. Sometimes Cade could get the big stoic guy to converse with him until what he thought were late hours of the day—since he had no sun or familiar solar system to tell time, it was anyone’s guess—and those were Cade’s favorite times out of this entire damn trip. Kidnapped or not, Cade couldn’t lie if someone asked him how he felt about the Decepticons taking them across the stars to Combatron and forcing Optimus to fight for the coliseum’s won fame and fortune.

If they hadn’t, he would have never gotten so close with Optimus. Maybe it was a bit rushed, and a lot confusing and _very_ overwhelming…but it was worth it. At least, Cade thought so. And he was almost certain Optimus loved him just as deeply.

Wouldn’t the sparkbond say otherwise?

His sudden, raw bout of honesty seemed to snare the commander’s attention, because Optimus hummed thoughtfully, tapping a few keys on the ship’s dash and then turned. He crossed into the back of the ship in only three strides, stooping a bit to fit properly and not whack his one remaining horn on the ceiling, or scrape his exhaust pipes which flared from his shoulders.

“Very well, Cade.”

Despite the problems they had faced down on the little nameless planet, which was now far behind them and with it, the strange Cybertron-chunk as well, Cade felt some tension drain from his shoulders.

Optimus wasn’t pleased with him—or maybe it was a combination of something else—but he wasn’t _angry,_ either.

Cade hardly waited for the big titan to settle himself, back against the wall of the little cargo-ship and one knee drawn up with the other comfortably tipped to the side and stretched out. The Transformer snorted under his pipes, the sound like a radiator expanding in a winter’s night, and offered a palm to help Cade up onto his larger frame.

“Are you injured anywhere? I apologize for not asking you sooner.”

“In your defense, big rig, you were busy scaring the living daylights out of some locals.” Cade’s grin was slanted and amused. “Nah, I’m fine. Kinda sore, but just from all that exploring. Same as a hike. Just…carrying a lot of junk on me to do so.”

 _‘Junk?’_ the Talisman parroted in distracted affront, which Cade ignored.

“You are favoring your shoulder, Cade. The one that got injured during your battle with Lockdown.” Optimus murmured, and this Cade did not ignore.

“Yeah, well, old wounds hurt sometimes.” Cade shrugged and used the arm connected to the shoulder in question to boost himself up higher to prove his point. He paused with his boots under the back of Prime’s forearm and his palms splayed on the semi’s front windshield. He smiled warmly up at his partner, nonplused and going for adorable. It seemed to work, judging by the soft smirking glance Optimus allowed him.

“Look, it also happens to be the same shoulder I threw out when I was on the football team, too. So its days have been numbered for a while.”

“You should not still be feeling residual pain from injuries, Cade.” Which, naturally, earned the commander a curious little glance.

“What I mean to say is,” Prime huffed when Cade prompted him with a crook of his brow. “The sparkbond should have reset us both.”

“Yeah, well, by that stretch, shouldn’t you have both horns?” Cade gestured absently toward the missing spot where the horn normally jutted from Prime’s audial base.

“…it cannot rebuild what is missing.” Prime admitted. “I need to scan a new alt mode to do that.”

“Maybe whatever’s wrong with my shoulder is missing too, ever think of that, you big mother hen?” Cade chuckled as Optimus’ fine features drew down, but his optics glinted in calm pleasure.

“If you feel so worried about my shoulder, I could always take a rub down~” Cade tossed the Transformer his most dashing smile, the one that Emily used to both snort and melt a little at—depending on her mood or whatever it was Cade had done that time to piss her off—and hopped down, back tracking the way he had come. He settled comfortably in the hand that turned on its wrist to catch his frame, so that now instead of standing on the autobot’s forearm he was resting his stomach on Prime’s palm and his chin on the bot’s wrist, arms folded under him.

“Be my guest~”

“Hnh. Never miss an opportunity to get attention from me, do you sparklight?”

It was Prime’s newest nickname for the man, only that only appeared a week or so ago, and Prime was not a creature that used nicknames lightly—if ever. And it was also Cade’s favorite.

 _“Affirmative.”_ Cade mimicked a tiny growl in Cybertronian, smiling when he heard a pleased roll of engines. ‘Yes’ Cade had answered, and added a smug-tone to the end of it.

That was another nice thing about their strange little bond—Cade’s Cybertronian had gone from manageable to nearly fluent almost overnight, allowing him to mimic and nearly parrot many of Prime’s vocalizations and sounds. He understood it even better too, which he hadn’t thought was possible until he heard a few of Grimwing and Blackbeak’s late night chats, full of love and praise and gentle-worrying over each other.

When Cade had realized his growing awareness for the dying language, he had immediately questioned Optimus, who shrugged but said in his pragmatic way, “Prime’s understand and speak all languages of the universe. It is a gift from Primus, so that we can spread out amongst the stars and never feel lost or unwelcome.”

Cade had even understood a tiny amount of whatever the hell language those scaled-lizards were squawking and chattering when he was attacked.

None of it was _good,_ mind you, but now Cade knew how to fluently swear in yet another language if he wanted to. So that was kind of cool.

Prime’s hand enfolded over most of his smaller human frame, and Cade Yeager laughed outright, pretending to fight back by locking his arms in place before they folded and he let himself crumple down against the warmed, jewel-blue plating of his Transformer.

Cade shivered when, just on the edges of his inner-self, he felt the twisting flickers of the very strands of Optimus Prime’s mighty, overpowering spark. Cade couldn’t tell you what was in him that was enough to mirror the commander’s spark and tie together their bond. Optimus had hypothesized it had something to do with the electrical charge that Cade’s heart naturally used, or perhaps their talk so long ago in the barn was more than just idle conversation. Cade had a soul and so did Optimus, and their souls met when both were injured and emotionally spent, and those wounded and hurting souls had simply decided to not let go of the other, and thus the sparkbond was constructed and gave the two their combined strength to get themselves out of the situation on Combatron.

Cade noticed Optimus that was staring down at him from behind that roman nose, and the little inventor chuckled.

“You okay?”

Blue optics half-shuttered before reopening. “…yes.”

“Wanna try that again?” Cade smirked. “Get your alibi ready first? Damn, Prime, you’d be the worst poker player—“

“Very funny.” Optimus answered, but there no trace of testiness in his tone. Cade was so busy gazing at those metal lips and thinking how he’d like to kiss them that he almost didn’t hear his commander go on.

“I am just…anxious, for some reason. Something is nagging at me. Most of it is what we found on that little planet. I don’t know. Cybertron is dead, and gone. I have accepted this. I would not have stayed on Earth if you if I did.”

“And no one is gladder than me that you did stay, big rig.” Cade said, because it bore repeating.

“More of it is the unknown of what our sparkbond is going to do, how it’s going to cultivate itself and grow.”

“That part of Cybertron…it was kind of spooky, Prime. My hands got all warm and—what?”

“Cybertron reacted to you?” Optimus looked troubled, even as his pose stayed relaxed enough. Cade tried not to let the big commander’s uncharacteristic anxiety get to him as well, but it was hard. They really did share everything now.

“Well, yeah. I mean, I touched it, you know me…can’t keep my hands to myself.”

“No, you never could. Especially not concerning my kind.” Prime said, remembering fondly now the memories of the surprised but stubborn inventor that Prime had met when he woke up and immediately threatened. Cade, of course, had only edged closer, holding the mech’s broken audial horn in offering, and promised help and asylum and friendship.

Really, is it any wonder they ended up like this?

“As for the sparkbond-thingy…you did say it wasn’t uncommon for Transformers to feel odd after a successful sparkbond. I know I’m not a Transformer, but—“

“Stop. You are as much a Transformer as I am. Certainly now if not before. You are my medic, and part of my team.” Optimus silenced him with a knowing look, then he gentled his own firm look. “And you are my partner as well, Cade Yeager, _Light-of-my-Spark,_ part of _The-Two-Who-Are-One-Soul.”_

Cade melted right back in response, and Prime made a pleased _hrrumm_ of his engines.

“You and I can worry about what will happen and how it will happen all we like, but you must accept that whatever _does_ happen, will involve both of us. Good, bad or indifferent. Yes?”

“Yes, Optimus.” Cade said, his usual lackadaisical tone solemn in respect and agreement. “I understand.”

“Good.” And Optimus seemed to accept this.

But that also brought up a new point, and Cade decided he wanted to address it sooner rather than later.

“And about back there…down there, that is…I want to apologize. Uh, more _formally,_ I mean. I’m—I’m sorry. I did get in over my head. I felt your fear, and I’m sorry you had to bail me out. I’ll try not to let it happen again, big guy.”

“Please.” Optimus said, then sighed. He looked away from Cade, which was rare, and seemed lost in stony silence. “Part of the reason I am uneasy about how our sparkbond will grow is that I cannot take our news to Ratchet. He would be able to give us examinations and help us work through this new thing together.”

Cade rested his chin on his crossed arms, relaxing wholly and trustingly to lay belly down atop the Transformer as he listened.

“Maybe some of this is just you missing Ratchet? The way you tell it, sparkbonds are points of pride. Bragging rights, for you guys. I know Emily would tell anyone that would listen when I proposed. I didn’t even have a ring but—well, I gave her a rattle, instead. For Tessa.” His cheeks flushed in both pride and embarrassment at their rather shotgun wedding due to the condom breaking that night. Cade had told her that an abortion was on the table, but Emily had been so excited…maybe Tessa came before a wedding and a house, but she was still wanted so badly by the two young parents.

“Perhaps it is part of that.” Optimus agreed. “I did tell you our sparkbond is very...impossible, didn’t I? That something like this has never been done before? At least, none that I know of. And we have only been on Earth for a short time.”

“But you said humans and Transformers have fallen in love. A mech named Seaspray did, didn’t he? Look at Bee, hell. He’s loved two humans.”

“Bumblebee has always been the exception to the rule,” Prime snorted, sounding as amused as Cade did whenever he told the story of the time Tessa tried to hide fifteen little frogs in their tub. “And he did not sparkbond with either of _them,_ Cade.”

“We’re really that rare?” Cade asked to clarify.

“As rare as I am not an evil Prime, yes.” Optimus reaffirmed.

“Damn. Well, when you put it like that…”

Cade felt a finger rub into the grove of his shoulders, gentle and rolling as it massaged the muscles. His blinks slowed, which Prime noticed and even chuckled at.

“Perhaps we are more tired than we thought.” Optimus said.

“Emotionally, you mean?” Cade rolled and flopped an arm out, exposing more of his back for the little rubdown and making sure Prime paid him full attention. In return he stroked his hand up and down Prime’s plating, the nearest section of smooth red flames he could reach. He had often felt silly doing so, thinking perhaps Prime would take it as chastising touches due to their size difference, but only had ever heard prideful grumbles from his Transformer. Maybe Cade couldn’t give a deep tissue massage to Optimus like Prime could to him, but it was clear his sparkmate appreciated the returned affections.

“Yes.” Prime smiled when he noticed the man was on the same page as him.

Cade smiled back, and he shifted only once, curling onto his side and hugging the fingers blanketed over his torso and hips in lazy, sleepy instinct.

The man fell asleep listening to the sound of his sparkmate’s soft purrs, and not for the first time Cade admired how easy it was to get used to this. There was no where safer for him in the universe, than with Optimus.

* * *

Cade’s dreams that night were…odd.

At first they started out pleasant enough—but then, lots of nightmares that grow from curdled dreams like doing that.

His dream was simple, clear without being overly detailed. Summer time. Late afternoon, with the sun heavy and slow in the west. Cade could hear locusts and a few cicadas having a screaming match around them, although to human ears it was nothing more than buzzes and thrums through the air. It was Texan summer and deep into the season, and it was hot as hell. Grass whispered and rustled, the thick, healthy eating-grass that flourished in the back pasture up until Emily’s dad died and they sold the cattle off. And since her father had died after his daughter…

Cade swallowed, staring into the west over the low mountains and the plains. He almost was afraid to look to his left, where she always sat when they came out here in the afternoon…

“Sweetie? Cade…?”

Cade’s head turned as if on a string, unbidden and on desperate instinct. And then his eyes locked onto Emily and Emily’s gentle but confused smile and his heart just about leapt from his chest.

When was the last time he had a dream of her so…vivid? Surely not after Tessa was eleven, and the bills started piling up, and jobs were scarce. He was usually too tired to dream, if he slept at all that is. It had been a long while, regardless. He could even smell the perfume she used to wear on their dates, a light ocean one with hints of some exotic flower he knew he couldn’t pronounce. But it was beautiful, just like she was. Tessa still had the bottle on her shelf, and as far as he knew it survived Cemetery Wind and Lockdown’s attack when they had come to take Optimus from him. Tessa had once admitted to him she never wore it, she couldn’t muster up the courage, but that she wanted the scent of her mother close, as memories in the human mind faded so well whether we wanted them to or not. Cade couldn’t blame her, but he was glad she had the little blue-green bottle anyway.

Then Emily smiled at him, looking like she always had, looking like she’d walked out of one of the photos they’d salvaged a few months ago from the barn, which Bee had helped him rehang.

Cade wanted to say something, anything, to her. He only managed to gape like a fish, which apparently was amusing to watch because her smile was now crooked and she laughed at him like she always used to, shaking her head in fond exasperation. So then all Cade could do was stare at the sunlight bouncing off her golden hair, or the tiny fly-aways that she let do whatever they wanted. Everything about the moment in his dream was so familiar and so perfect; it was hard for Cade to focus on anything else.

Beneath them, the world moved.

…which was admittedly a little strange.

Cade tore his eyes from his young and alive wife, leaned back on his hands to steady himself as he stared at the metal thumb bent up beside his arm, and he blinked at it in mute confusion. Had that always been there? Weren’t they sitting in the grassy slope of a hill behind Emily’s parent’s house? And besides, he _knew_ that thumb—

Cade turned and he and Emily stared up at Optimus, who was watching the sunset across the mountains as the two humans sat perched in his cupped hands, carefully bent to give them both room. He was sitting on the long hill, and they were sitting on him, the heat of the Texan summer was half memory, half Cade’s brain remembering how hot Transformers ran—especially his best friend. After a moment the titan tilted his helm down to look back at them, piercing optics warming to soft blue-light twinkles of adulation and warmth when he noticed them looking. He smiled back at them.

Emily said something Cade couldn’t make out, beaming in wonder and shameless affection up at the near godlike being that was gentle, loving Optimus. She didn’t seem to question the titan’s presence beyond that. Dream!Cade accepted this as fact and didn’t question it. Meanwhile Optimus rumbled back in low amusement, the noise his engines made that meant he was particularly pleased.

There was a storm wandering in behind them all, Cade could see it if he tilted his chin and peered over the commander’s royal-blue shoulder guard.

Eh, that wasn’t so odd. Storms rolled in within minutes during a Texan summer, especially at August’s apex. Sure, maybe it _was_ a little odd the clouds were so vibrantly purple and so richly dark, but the wind wasn’t even picking up yet.

The storm was just…there.

Emily didn’t seem to notice it, but Optimus did, and he followed the man’s gaze with a slight twist of his long frame. He grunted in dim, unhurried recognition, tossing a knowing look down at Cade before facing forward fully and leaning over them a little more. As if the thunderstorm was going to get them, as if to say he would shield them from the worst of it.

As if a little storm were something to be afraid of.

Then Cade felt Emily touch his arm, and the poor inventor was wholly and utterly distracted once more.

The dream was so detailed now…and Emily…the memory of her so _damn crystal clear…_

Cade’s dreams were very odd, yes. But not exactly unwelcome.


	4. Nowhere

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yikesTM. this took longer than I thought. Thanks for the awesome feedback guys! Also, I’ll add characters as they appear, so as not to spoil stuff //and also bc im making this up as I go along >>; hey it worked for Mulan, didn’t it?

_“The universe has your back.” –Gabrielle Bernstien_

**Chapter 3. Nowhere**

Cade woke blearily, knowing there was no birdsong or usual waking noises and yet expecting them all anyway. Of course, there was none of it, but it was nice to dream. To imagine for an instant they were home and safe already. 

But no. He wasn’t at home, he wasn’t in the barn. Or in the house, although now he wasn’t sure he could settle with sleeping so far from Optimus let alone on a soft bed that wasn’t as _alive_ as the metal plating he was far too used to curling up on. The compound itself was livelier than ever, the more relaxed the bots all came the more rambunctious. Some mornings Cade was woken up by the ground quivering because Hound and Crosshairs were sparing to keep themselves in shape, or to Drift reciting his weird haikus, or simply because Bee had wandered into the barn and was nudging Optimus awake playfully with adorable blips, wanting to go a drive or get into a project with Cade.

The recent events trickled back to the tired inventor, who stretched from his side and rolled carefully onto his stomach, fingers feeling the pounding pulse of powerful spark under his skin and Prime’s thick chest-plating. Huh, the spark’s strange beats seemed…deeper than usual. There didn’t seem to be anything wrong with it, but it was just out of the ordinary enough for Cade and so he was on alert just in case. His team had taught him early the bot who was too slow or didn’t trust his gut was the one that became scrap parts well before his time. And…besides, Optimus was _his_ Transformer, _his_ partner. Sure, Cade was the medic but he was Prime’s medic first!

…must be another side effect of the sparkbond. Cade couldn’t remember ever feeling this possessive over the commander.

His bed was no longer Prime’s hand and wrist, because during his sleep Prime must have swept him up closer, depositing him without waking Cade onto his chassis, along the midcenter of his broad chest but still splayed a hand over him as a blanket. The result was a slightly curved but terribly warm and reassuring position for the man, who, for the life of him, would never understand how sleeping on his Transformer family could be considered as comfortable as it was. Tessa had once explained the body actually liked harder surfaces to sleep on, which he supposed he got, especially when she pointed out how long he’d been sleeping in ‘uncomfortable’ spots. Now it was his norm. Soft, fluffy beds with pillows were not. Over the two years he lived with the autobots, Cade didn’t always have a trailer available, especially if they were routed and had to fall back, which usually meant there wasn’t time for Hound to hook up to the mobile homes Cade used to salvage. Cade had learned quickly to keep everything he needed on him, or in Drift, because the triple changer usually had plenty of room to spare due to his many forms. And most times Cade slept in the back of Bee, but if Bee had to scout or it was safer for him to be alone, then Cade was just as well flopping down in Hound or Crosshairs. The times that everyone was so exhausted they literally dropped where they were standing; Cade would be up half the night, repairing while they slept, using a tired Bee’s optic-light or a flashlight wedged under his chin, and then would pass out draped over one of them, sometimes the tool slipping from his fingers. No one, not even Crosshairs who loved to bitch just for the principle, ever seemed to care or mind during these nights. They only ever seemed to treat the man like one of them even more, which touched Cade almost beyond words.

He was a man who found far better and friendlier company among Transformers, and he didn’t care if he was odd or not.

That was his first time sleeping with the bots in root mode, and Cade learned very quickly who was better at it than most. Hound sometimes snored and spooked Cade awake, Drift was made of sharper plating that folded and sometimes pinched skin or clothes, Cross was a light sleeper and if Cade collapsed onto the sniperbot he would wake in the morning or afternoon to find he’d been moved rather delicately over to Drift, who always slept beside Cross. When Cade realized it was because Cross was uncomfortable and worried about ‘squishing the damn fool in his sleep,’ Cade had only laughed. The mech’s worry was cute, but his family would never hurt him. Whereas Bee was the smallest but seemed more than used to curling around a smaller, weaker frame when he slept, in fact he almost seemed to like it, being the first to hunker down and grouch until Cade gave in and tried to get some rare shut eye. The dinbots usually hid underground, but sometimes he’d take a nap in the shade and wake to find Grimlock lounging around him in one great crescent shape, the big brute humming and snorting at him when Cade spooked awake and realized why he was still in cool shade when the sun most certainly had moved. But most nights back then, he’d fall asleep listening to Bee’s music or some late night radio signal he’d found and sleep just as good as if he were in the camaro’s backseat. Then Bee’d wake Cade in the morning with _the Smiths_ and chuckle when Cade shoved and pushed at his helm and teasing digits, grumpy until he had his morning four cups of coffee.

Sleeping on Optimus when he was not a semi was an altogether different experience than resting with any of his other family. Not just because the big guy was huge, or because he was so strong that a misplaced palm could snap one of Cade’s limbs like a stick and perhaps not feel it—although those were definitely considerations and plenty of reasons to be wary. 

Cade had never really had a preference when it came to his team, other than that he hated sleeping alone or too far from them now. He didn’t mind the trailer with its crappy bed, because it was the epicenter of their tiny base and he could always tell where everyone was. Cross’ backseat was as comfortable as when Bee flopped over him like a purring pile of metal. But Optimus…both his wide cab and tall frame were equally great places for Cade to relax in. he wasn’t sure how or why, although he certainly noticed Optimus slept differently than his fellow bots. The commander rarely—if ever—lied down, usually leaning back against some wall or simply folding into alt mode and locking his brakes. And while the autobots slept less these days because they could finally run off Energon and not fight for their lives every day, Optimus himself slept far, far less. Cade supposed it had something to do with the big guy being a Prime; that Primes were just made of tougher stuff in every sense of the word. But Optimus never complained or seemed bothered when his medic still needed more sleep, because he was still human despite how he was treated by them all. Even if Cade didn’t sleep, just resting his eyes was welcome. Hell, just _existing_ with Optimus was welcome. They sometimes went hours without two words said to each other, content to do their own thing unless and until the other one needed them, or another of the team loitered outside the barn calling for one of the. (Only Bumblebee ever entered and exited the lab as he pleased, which always reminded Cade strongly that his autobot partner was still, and always would be, the commander whose presence alone demanded respect even in the most relaxed of settings. And also, that Prime did have a favorite among his small team and it was absolutely the friendly little scout.)

Even before the sparkbond and the coliseum threatening them, Cade had felt more at ease with Optimus Prime than almost anyone in his life save for Emily.

The memory of his first sweetheart and the subsequent dream he had enjoyed last night made Cade glance up finally, broken from his thoughts as he checked in on the Prime. _Oh._ He melted, keeping himself quiet and unassuming as he crossed his arms and rested his chin, watching with amused fondness as he observed Optimus’ expression as he slept. _Actually_ slept, not just his light doze. The commander was still settled back against the wall of their small cargo ship, his helm tilted lightly and unbroken audial horn kept tilted up a bit for any nearby noise. A warmth of steam puffed from that Roman nose and slender optic lids fluttered but did not open, the thin slivers of blue a lighter shade than usual that signaled Optimus wasn’t really all there, that his processors were slowed and coasting on thoughts. 

_‘Damn, he really is out of it.’_ Cade thought to himself as he ran a palm over the Prime’s nearest section of outer plating, tracing the flames idly with a finger. A second later the rumbling started up, and Cade bit his lip, freezing his gesture to see if he had accidentally—oh, no, Prime was still asleep. But he was doing his version of a purr now, within said sleep, apparently feeling Cade’s ministrations even in his recharge. The inventor’s lips twitched further into a fond, crooked smile.

 _‘Prime says the sparkbond shares every-damn-thing it can. We have no idea what that means for a transformer-human bond, because those are supposed to be fuckin’ impossible. But…must be sharing my REM sleep maybe?’_ Well, and sparkbond aside Cade knew his sparkmate—husband, what a surreal, wonderful world that was to use!—was already tired and stressed from the whole situation they had found themselves in. Cade couldn’t blame him.

 _‘And…okay, arguably, I caused waay more worry yesterday for him when I went to check out that hunk of Cybertron without getting back up._ ’ He grumbled to himself, and went back to his lazy pets and tracing of the mech’s massive frame he was snuggled up on.

The reminder of his folly caused the usual sparks of indigence and shame, along with some restless flickers that smoldered in his heart. He made a move to get up, sighing as he decided to stop lying there just ogling his better half and get some damn work done before Prime woke, so the mech would be proud of him and knew he could take care of—

Oh, the purring had stopped, and there was now a low note of disapproval that shattered the quiet calm. And also a heavy hand flattening over him as Prime stirred and, without waiting, grunted angrily at something that apparently ticked him off.

Cade went splayed out and limp, half from the force of that servo and half from sheer surprise, not uttering a word for a second. But he saw Prime’s confused flicks of his brightening eyes, the way the mech stretched his metal lips in groggy confusion and narrowed his sleepy optics as if to focus them, and Cade understood based on that sleepy, instinctive response. And so Cade melted all over again.

“Take it easy, big guy.” He cooed before he could help himself. He hoped Prime didn’t take sweet talk as insulting, because god, Cade didn’t mean it that way. He was just…feeling a lot right now, warmth and love and amusement at the commander when he got all protective like this. He hadn’t mean to spook Prime by leaving, but wasn’t that adorable that Optimus did react like that? At least that feeling of _possession_ was shared between them, which bolstered Cade’s confidence immensely.

“Uh…hey, no one’s tryin’ ta take me from you…” Cade breathed again, going for soothingly and relaxed. “C’mon, lemme up, please?”

Cade wriggled himself out from under those fingers just as they started to curl in mild, groggy consideration. He made it out, however, and immediately crawled the few feet up Prime’s regal sternum crest, rising up into the light of Prime’s searching optics. Cade grinned back at him, and Prime snorted but started to settle, convinced now apparently by the sight of the little inventor that had just shimmied his way up to hover a few inches before his face plates.

“Good morning, ya big brute~” Cade teased, chuckling when all he earned was a grumble for his troubles. Deciding to spend today making up for yesterday, Cade leaned in, eyes closed and pressed his lips to the much bigger ones of Optimus.

Now this _did_ earn a new noise of approval instead, and Prime’s searching gaze softened and he thrummed in pleasure as said optics shuttered closed in pleasure, leaning back but lighter, not wanting to topple Cade from his perch.

“Good morning, Cade.” He returned when Cade finally gave him his lips back. Planning to go for cute, the inventor stuck a knee under himself for balance and rose, kissing the long stretch of the mech’s nose.

“You were pretty dead asleep there, Prime. Everything okay…?” And then, wondering with growing curiosity, he hedged, “…did ya dream?”

What would Optimus dream of? Cade would be lying if he said he wasn’t hoping it was about him.

“Fine.” Said Optimus, in his pragmatic way, and almost causing Cade to think he wouldn’t be getting an in-depth answer like he wanted.

“Hnn…I did, yes. A little bit.” Optimus blinked a few times, seeming to replay something over in his processors before deciding to say, “It’s a very… _disorienting_ experience, Cade.”

The man blinked up at him, brows bunching thoughtfully. “…you don’t dream, do’ya Prime? Transformers, I mean.”

“We do not. We _remember.”_

“Right. Computers. How could I forget?” Cade snorted. Then paused as he started scaling down that thick arm supporting him ever-so carefully. “So that means…my dream last night, the one in the field, that was about you and—“

“Yes.” Prime cut in, which was odd for him. “That was due to my error, Cade, and I apologize. I was being…well, nosey. Searching your memories for what I wanted to find as you and I rested.”

“So did you mean to find Em?” this conversation felt weird, but then, Cade’s whole goddamn entire life had been weird for the last three years, since that trip into the old theater. “In my memories…?”

“You miss her greatly.” Optimus answered, without really answering at all. “And because of our sparkbond, which seems to get healthier by the day, so do I mourn her as well. But I do not _know_ her, her likes or features or interests. It is confusing for me, and so I tried to answer my own questions while we slept. I was very deep into your subconscious when you began dreaming. The sparkbond seemed to…build the dream from there.”

“Oh.” Said Cade, because for once the talkative man didn’t know what to say in this situation. But now he had more questions, as he so often did when he and Optimus chewed the fat together. “Is there…anyone that you…? _Miss…?”_

Optimus stared at him a beat before he smiled, truly smiled, and Cade’s cheeks and ears burned.

“There is. You do not live as long as I do without losing souls you care deeply for.” Optimus informed with a look of amusement, and somehow the matter seemed politely closed, or at least paused for now. Cade nodded, taking the hint. Later, though, maybe he could ask. Or…maybe he could try and find out for himself, like Optimus did about Emily?

Optimus was still smiling fondly even as Cade hopped down and the great commander rose.

Optimus was always attractive to the inventor, but his rare smiles seemed something special, like a comet you might see once every twenty years. Considering their lifespan compared to humans, Cade supposed that was a good comparison as any. Even though that subtle reminder stung his heart…

_‘Will the sparkbond do the impossible? And share our lifespan? Or…won’t it?’_

The latter concept was chilling, caused Cade to tremble and he hoped his leather jacket hid it.

“You know, you worry loud enough to wake the dead, my friend.” Optimus rumbled not a second later, and smirked at Cade’s pout he aimed up at the commander.

“Well…it’s a solid question. I don’t want to leave you, Optimus, and hurt you…you made it sound like sparkbonds could self detonate. That one of us going down was as good as both of us.” Cade frowned.

“That they weren’t all-powerful…”

“Nothing in this universe is.” Prime remarked calmly, but he nodded. “The risk is…there. As it would be for two Transformers. Right now we need to worry about getting back to Earth. The sparkbond won’t age you, I should think.”

“But will it slow me down, make me not get older, I mean?” Cade wondered, “because _that_ would be…well, it would be great! Uh…yanno, except for Tess…”

Optimus didn’t have an answer, but he echoed Cade’s pain and concern softly back to him, and then followed it with a wave of love and assurance. It was clearly meant to calm the worrying inventor, and for a while it did. Prime’s presence settled protectively heavy onto his shoulders and held there.

It was then Grimwing called to them from the front of the ship, his thick neck craned over the console as he rumbled and growled in displeasure. Whatever it was that set him off, it was big, because he called over to Prime a second time, and Blackbeak rustled his wings, clicking just as urgently.

“What is it?” Prime demanded, commander mode once more as he strode to the front of their stolen ship.

Cade sighed, and followed. He supposed Prime was right. Worrying about far off problems wasn’t going to solve the near ones. He hurried to the crates they had stacked that allowed Cade to see the dash of little ship for himself. He peered out the window, hissing in surprise and fearful wonderment through the black of space.

It was the small planet Optimus had wanted to refuel on.

And it was burning.

* * *

Optimus touched down carefully on among smoke and spitting fire, bringing his sword down before him as another brace for his weight as his thrusters died and the planet’s gravity took hold of his frame. On the shoulder that supported his shield, Cade, now covered in the Talisman’s knight-esque armor, crouched at his perch and for once, didn’t hop down immediately. He had a far better view from Prime’s height anyway, and they had no idea what was down here, be it victims or attackers.

But no one and nothing came running from them out of the smoke….and Optimus was big enough he couldn’t exactly sneak as he flew down from the ship. Cade hummed thoughtfully and studied the landscape.

The strange floating rock seemed beyond dismal now, caverns and crevices smoldering. It was almost impossible to see through the awful air, and Cade was glad for the Talisman’s filters. The planet was gravelly and blue, and many tiny mountains and crags jutted in the distance. Optimus had landed near the epicenter of what appeared to be the attack.

“You knew this planet?” Cade eyed a bundle of rock that looked like simple, Transformer-tossed-together-shelters at one point. He would never not be amazed at a Transformer’s ability to endure off so _little_. Humans needed air, water, food, clothes. Preferably company, for they were pack animals by nature. Solitary humans were rare, solitary Transformers were absolutely not, especially the grounder models Prime had implied lived at their hopeful rest stop. Transformers hardly needed a fraction of what humans did for survival, and what they needed they could run on far less with. And his Transformer, well, Optimus himself was a survivor unchallenged, and Cade was used to it even if it did awe him, and make him see how small and helpless his species truly was.

“Not very well.” Optimus admitted as he picked his way over rubble and debris. “There was a small Energon source some autobots were mining, but the vein was nearly dry when I went through here …hmm, about an earth year ago.”

“Before you got to Cybertron,” Cade affirmed. _‘Before Quintessa got to you.’ _

Optimus nodded, and lapsed into careful silence.

Grimwing’s shadow blanketed them for a beat, soared forward and then doubled back.

“Ahead!” Blackbeak cawed down, voice sharp and causing Prime’s noble helm to perk up.

“Looks…autobot!” the little homonuclus shrieked helpfully.

Optimus advanced, but only shouldered his sword to between his strong back when they spied the fallen form of the mech for himself. The mech was a heavy hitter, but had no earth-car details that Cade could make out. If this Transformer had been to Earth, it had not kept any alt mode from his home planet.

And what Cade could see, he knew wasn’t good. The poor bastard had his chest cleaved open, his torso gone and one arm completely missing. He lay on his spine helpessly, engines churning tiredly and didn’t really stir as Optimus stalked over and knelt, letting Cade down before he stooped to help support the fallen mech and let Cade check for injuries. Any _more_ injuries, that is.

“Ah…heh, Optimus Prime. An honor,” the mech tried to salute, then seemed to notice he was missing his arm and servo. “Well…s’been a while.”

“It has, Blueswipe. Tell me what happened.”

“Wish I knew.” The autobot grunted. If he noticed Cade he didn’t seem to care. That wasn’t a good sign. Even friendly autobots got distracted by seeing their first human. “Not how I planned it, but…m’old. Older than you, young Prime.” The mech seemed to laugh under his vents, and asked with a pained grumble,

“Do you think little of me, Commander, just lying down and dying?”

“…no. I think it must take great courage, warrior. You were already wondering about deactivation when I last saw you…” Prime reminded gently, causing Cade to nod in understanding. This mech was old. Transformers didn’t die unless something killed them. That would tire any one’s soul out.

“But what of this—who did this to you?”

“Like I said. Grhn—No idea. We’re a small bunch. I dunno how much of us’re left. Sent the young ones away…energon’s nearly gone. We got a little left but…if they took it, well.” Blueswipe gestured with his good hand in a tired, accepting gesture of ‘and there you have it.’

The remark about the supply of Energon seemed to make Prime jolt a bit.

“Then….a Decepticon attack?” Optimus demanded quickly, wanting to know what the hell they were dealing with, what to _expect._

“N-no,” The old mech muttered, spitting out Energon. “We…both sides lived here…small ‘nough to coexist…woulda hit us _earlier_ —when there was _plenty_ more Energon ta’ steal.”

“So some else attacked _all_ the Transformers.” Cade pointed out. He pulled back, sighing at the damage. “Optimus, I can’t…there’s too much gone…” worst of all, to save this one would take time from others with quicker patches. Blueswipe had just mentioned younger ones that potentially had gotten away. To even make one life comfortable for a slow inevitable death would cost three or four more lives. Cade felt sick to his stomach, even as Prime nodded.

“Rest easy, old one.” Prime soothed to the white and green autobot, easing the battered frame into a sheltered spot. “And we will save who we can, on my honor.”

“Use me fer parts if you need, an’melt me down …no use to stand on ceremony, sir…”

Optimus’ lips pursed, but he nodded in deep respect as he promised, “As you wish.”

Cade shivered, but it wouldn’t be the first time he had to help his team mutilate dead Transformers to keep them running. None of them liked it, and it even creeped Cade out a good deal, despite knowing it was taking parts from a mech who couldn’t be saved and had no use for them. And the supplies it would take to melt down the dead and honor them wouldn’t be a good use of their time anyway…

Cade winced, head ducking as he heard the strange metallic death rattle erupt from the autbot’s open chest and seem to crackle through the air, through his own small, human soul. He shivered as the light died from the Transformer’s cracked face.

“Cade, go with Grimwing.” Prime suddenly commanded, snapping his mouth guard into place as he moved from the body. “Search for survivors.”

“On it, Optimus.”

Deciding to give the commander the time alone he wanted, and knowing Prime would begin his own search—perhaps one of furious vengeance since that battle-mask had appeared abruptly—Cade obeyed quick as he could, vaulting up between the Predacon’s large shoulders, watching Blackbeak unhook from Grim’s dock and take back to the skies.

“Hurry ‘Wing, there’s gotta be someone we can save!” Cade pleaded.

The Predacon sniffed the air, huge wings flared as he rode a low burst of warm current, the fires slowly dying down. No new ones seemed to be bursting to life. Grimwing circled more than once, banking sharply to the left and then swiftly swept over a small canyon. Cade leaned over both sides of the thick ebony neck, knowing the Talisman had magnetized to Grimwing’s frame and thus Cade was in no danger of falling unless he ordered Cal to disengage.

There were not a lot of bodies, but the ones they found were already grey and lifeless and Grimwing shook his helm in frustration at them. Soon he was leaving them behind before Cade could stop him and double check.

 _‘Predacon’s wield more senses than you or even I, young heir.’_ The Talisman assured when Cade seemed unhappier by the second. _‘They are hunters of live prey, unparalleled save for your Prime.’_

“Don’t remind me,” Cade grunted, trying to ignore the burning rage he felt broiling from Prime’s end of the sparkbond. Yeah, the big guy was pissed. He didn’t blame him. This wasn’t a fight, it was a slaughter. Target practice. And to target both Cons and Bots? Sure, Decepticons were cruel, vindictive bastards usually bent on world domination…but they were loyal to their own.

And this was devastating. Almost cruel, or mindless.

 _“There!”_ Blackbeak suddenly shrieked so loud in Cybertronian that Cade jolted. _“Down-there-down!”_

Grimwing folded his emerald wings and dived, whipping the breath from Cade’s lungs and jostling his stomach when the Predacon landed heavily, and lowered a shoulder for Cade.

Cade pushed off, slide and landed, but had the common sense to freeze when a small bolt of purple fire streaked over his little horned helm.

“Fuck!” The inventor scattered smartly behind Grimwing’s foreleg, peeking out warily in the direction the flare had flown from.

“Oh great, it’s a Seeker,” Cade realized, groaning. Seekers were…fun. They were never easy to deal with in twos, and were unholy retribution when there was a bigger flock tracking the team. He hadn’t had a lot of personal run ins with them thankfully—Bee liked to draw their fire because they—so he said—gave him the best races, which was such a Bumblebee statement Cade had only snorted and shook his head when he heard.

And this Seeker was smaller than the usual fair Cade was used to seeing—although to be fair, he had never seen one this close up before. He was ebony and violet colored, with sharp, narrowed optics and all wings and gangly limbs, but across his shoulders was a thick chunk of black equipment that seemed to keep the jet’s wings permanently flared sideways and downwards. Cade eyed it thoughtfully, realizing he had never seen anything like that before on a seeker or even another Transformer. After all, Seekers didn’t get shot down often, and when they did, they were usually snatched up by fellow flyers and carried off. Besides the autobots, Seekers had the highest bounty when it came to the government wanting one captured, and Cade bristled at the memory of their own time being hunted like a pack of dogs.

Among the Cons, Cade had observed Seekers were intensely loyal, and never flew solo. Drift was their only flyer, and even he wasn’t like a jet model, he had lectured Cade once.

“….so why are you alone?” Cade murmured, fingers curling in thought as he stared back at the pile of gangly metal, that was now hissing at them all in fearful defiance.

 _“Scared!”_ Blackbeak mocked, cawing and pecking the air in challenge. “Seeker-scared! Hah-hah!”

Grimwing grunted in agreement but made no move to attack the downed flyer. What sport would there be, he seemed to say as he eyed the Seeker and then their Little-Medic, and rumbled evenly at Cade for good measure. Cade, who knew Grimwing couldn’t see his smile in this get up, patted the Predacon’s forearm affectionately.

“Seeker-scared!” Blackbeak decided there was no fight to be had, not even one he could goad them into, and so he landed on Grimwing’s shoulder dock and snapped the insult again.

“Lem’me alone!” The little black and violet seeker suddenly shrieked in English. “I am **not!”**

And it was so petulant and said by such a young voice Cade blinked. Weird. Well, not weird—Bee was young too, and he was Prime’s right hand bot now that Ratchet had…yeah. There were all ages of Transformers, just not babies or kids—sparklings they were called, if memory served. If this guy was Bee’s age, he was just exiting youngling stage, and would be considered a young-adult to a human. Transformers, of course, didn’t age like humans but there were _some_ similarities…

“Cal? Can you scan him?” Cade whispered, leaning out to get a better vantage point for the Talisman’s limited range sweeper. The Talisman was silent before crisply replying:

_‘A flyer model. Fragile build, relies on speed. Weapons appear missing and or damaged. Wings; unusable.’_

Cade’s spine straightened. “You sure?”

 _“Young heir, why ask for thou’s opinion then question it? Most vexing!’_ The Talisman said sourly.

_‘Alright, Jesus, sorry.’ _

But he frowned and edged around to Grimwing’s side. He’d learned from Drift the most important rule of seekers:

_“If they can’t fly, they can’t get away.”_

The seeker spotted Cade’s movement and hissed, puffing his plating out until he seemed twice his size and arched his spine, jaws smoking. Cade had the good sense to pause, then compared this sight to the commander of autobots painting a barrel of a gun at him from the back of his barn and tried not to snort.

_‘Seekers breathe fire? Jotting that down later, holy shit.’ _

“Skywarp.” Grimwing suddenly rumbled, and Cade blinked.

“Sky…? I know that name—you’re one of the Elite trine, right?”

Skywarp scowled, talons digging the rocky gravel of the planet, and glanced up at the sky with such a torn, heartbroken look on his face, Cade’s heart twanged in regret and realization. 

“…and you’re all alone, huh?” and if his limited knowledge on this breed of Transformer was right, seekers didn’t handle _alone_ quite well.

“Go away!” Skywarp snapped again, scrambling back and couching down to all fours. So he could move, but one wing was hanging awkwardly. Cade had worked on Drift enough to see some of the problems just from here, but he wouldn’t know for sure—or how to repair them and what he would need—until he got up close.

And he had to do that preferably _before_ he got charred alive.

“Take it easy,” he held both hands out and kept his tone soothing and even. “I’m not gunna hurt you.”

Skywarp’s wide purple gaze flitted once to Grimwing and Blackbeak as a whole, and Cade nodded.

“Them too, they won’t hurt you neither.”

“You’re too small to hurt _me,_ minicon!” Skywarp snapped, and Cade had to stifle a snort.

_‘Guess your armor hides me better than I thought, Cal.’_

Now wasn’t the time to wonder what Skywarp thought of him, and Cade hoped Grimwing and Blackbeak were keeping optics peeled for Skywarp’s trine, but as minutes passed and Cade edged closer and closer, he realized Skywarp was really, truly alone.

“I’m not a minicon, Skywarp.” He hoped honesty was the best policy in this case. “I’m a human. I’m a medic, too, actually.”

“And I’m Solus herself, come to spread the good word of Primus.” Skywarp scoffed, sounding so petulant and Bumblebee-like Cade felt a rush of affection for the young seeker.

“Grimwing can vouch for me. He was once in Shockwave’s lab, wasn’t he?”

At this, the young seeker eyed Grimwing with less distrust and growing interest. That studious silence was answer enough. Cade stepped closer, humming when Skywarp hissed, waiting for the noise to peter off. He also waited for that fire to spark in the back of the seeker’s throat, but there was none this time.

 _‘Okay, looks like Puff the Magic Dragon is calming down…._ ” Cade smiled to himself. _“’Heh, we got this Cal.’_

_‘They’ll inscribe that on thy tomb, young heir.’_

Cade rolled his eyes, glad the helmet would hide his expression, and he edged closer.

* * *

The splintered, fraying visage of Cybertron drifted with less and less confusion, and more and more Certainity.

The slow steady pulse of Something was still very, very fragile and weak. But it was there, and sometimes that was all that mattered. Sometimes enduring was enough, like a tiny spark starting a roaring blaze.

Well, there was a long way to go for this blaze to get started.

But that was just fine.

 **“The Prime will be Mine.”** It was slowly getting easier to Think and Understand.

**“And my beloved Cybertron will thrive again.”**

Enduring. Quite a concept. Quite a promise.

Quite a threat. 

* * *

Optimus Prime tore his optics from yet another body. The cracked wings and thin frame told him enough. As did the fresh scent of Energon, leaking thin pink trails into the cracked and dehydrated ground.

Unsurprising. Seekers got along with their own kind easily and other model types, and far better than the other way around. Blueswipe had been here before, but it seemed others had come to this planet to rest and regroup. The Transformers Prime had visited a year ago had been older and content to mine and purify the little Energon vein, more interested than a little rest and profit than combat unless it was for light recreation. In other words, it was the perfect spot to hide or avoid a war, which continued in random spurts across the stars with the same certainty as Earth’s constant tides. Transformers were always fighting, it seemed. If he wasn’t a Prime, Optimus wondered if he would ever learn to cope with the peace he had working for on Earth.

Unless Cade and Grimwing were having better luck, there were no survivors to report, and Optimus didn’t like that.

But the planet also wasn’t that big. Whatever it was he was hunting wasn’t hunting him.

Or perhaps wasn’t even still on this forsaken planet. He and Grimwing were certainly bigger, tougher challenges than the few mechs Prime had seen so far.

_‘Only cowards attack innocent colonies and flee after such devastation.’_

The first hunk of grey plating caught his attention, and the commander paused, eyeing it.

 _‘Yet more pieces of Cybertron.’_ He hadn’t thought the planet was still in this solar system, but then there really was no way of knowing _when_ this chunk had fallen to crash land here.

Unlike his adventurous and more curious little bondmate, Optimus had the good judgment not to touch the deeply embedded shard he saw, knowing that it might not end well or worse, it might awaken something that should stay sleeping. The same principle went for the many other chunks he saw as he continued exploring across the burning planet.

The only good thing was he found the last cache of Energon, but the bad news was the bodies he had to gently extract from around it, for they had given their lives protecting the Energon store from whatever had come here, wreaking havoc and destruction before it had moved on for some reason. 

Quintessa would have left the planet bare, with several new minions under her powerful thrall. Unicron would have simply swallowed the planet whole. Megatron would have attacked Autobots, not slayed Cons when he needed soldiers to boost his dying numbers.

But this…

 _‘Primus, do not let this be caused by who I think it is.’_ Optimus prayed, because sometimes praying was all there was left to do.

* * *

Cade eyed the mess that was poor Skywarp’s wing.

“I can’t work on this here. Even if I knew for sure it was safe to…can you walk? Look, we can fix you up and you can leave when you want. But let me help you first, Skywarp.” Cade urged, pushing as much honesty and warmth as he could muster into his voice. The Seeker wasn’t calm, but he seemed less uneasy, which Cade would take for now.

“…fine, I guess.” Skywarp mumbled, and suddenly he was giving Cade a wide berth once he’d gotten a curious sniff of him. The black seeker rattled his plating in obvious restlessness but crouched down, slinking toward Grimwing with a soft note of calling and hopefulness.

“I forgot how vocal Seekers are,” Cade chuckled, half to Grimwing, half to the Talisman. “You guys really are just like Bee.”

“…Prime’s scout?” Skywarp wrinkled his gray nose, then seemed to rethink this comparison and shrugged in boredom, eyeing the Predacon still in his beast mode. It was clear the two somewhat recognized each other, and Cade had about as much fear as the Predacon hurting Skywarp as he did Optimus attacking the little guy. Skywarp was part of the Elite Trine for a reason, but he was also young, lost, and his most important part of him, his wings, were injured. Any bullshit he might try to pull wasn’t going to end well for him. Cade hoped that alone was enough to keep him compliant, but with Decepticons you never knew…

“Should keep moving.” Grimwing grunted at Cade, nudging Skywarp until the Seeker stretched out and crawled up between the metal gryphon’s strong shoulders. He perched with obvious relief. He was smaller than Grimwing, who actually was about level with Optimus when he stood in his human mode. As a gryphon he was twice as long as a school bus, not including his tail or broad emerald wings, which seemed to endear Grimwing more to Skywarp.

“Good point, Grim.” Cade nodded. “Is there anyone else we can help ‘Warp?”

Skywarp eyed him, before commenting,

“…dunno. Probably not. Is there…uh, you smell like Optimus Prime.” He spoke seriously and carefully, as if speaking to someone rather stupid. That was pretty much how most Cons initially talked to humans, so Cade didn’t take it personally.

“Which is weird because…we thought you were the scout’s new pet.” Skywarp said.

 _‘We?’_ Cade blinked.

_‘Seekers operate and think as their trine unit, young heir. Even separate, they are always one. Especially healthy trines.’_

_‘Huh. Good to know.’_ Cade filed that little tidbit away for later alongside: ‘also breathes fucking fire’ and shrugged, going for casual.

“Oh. Uh—well, firstly, yeah, I bet I do smell like him. Secondly, it’s not ‘pet,’ thank you very much,” But Cade kept his tone full of levity and amusement as he walked in a direction he deemed good as any.

“It’s _partner,_ and while Bee’s great, he and I don’t lead the team anymore. Optimus does.”

 _‘That makes thou a Commander as well.’_ The Talisman remarked, but Cade brushed the comment off.

“Oh.” Mumbled Skywarp, who folded his good wings back in a more comfortable position and settled as Grimwing carried the downed seeker across the crumbling planet. Skywarp glanced away from Cade finally, and pawed at Blackbeak with curious claws and only received a series of pecks and shrieks for his efforts. The injured seeker clicked back, trying to act pitiful apparently and even flinched down against Grimwing’s hide until the Predacon grumbled in warning at Blackbeak.

“Scout up.” Grimwing grunted to his partner, who tossed his head but launched obediently upward, choosing to ignore Warp’s tiny smirk as he now had more room to relax atop Grimwing.

 _‘Think I was right about the age similarity to Bee and Skywarp.’_ Cade mused as he walked. _‘This might be in our favor, little shit or not.’_

 _‘Stay sharp anyway, young heir. Treachery lurks round every corner.’_ Said the Excalibur.

Cade stayed silent, but only because he begrudgingly agreed.

And besides, the Talisman’s warning came not a second too soon, because as he picked his way round a rock, there was soft movement. A very subtle slither and a low echoing note of sheer aggression so strong Cade stopped breathing for a second.

Across their two way bond, stretched thin but working, Optimus stirred in interest and a pulse of worry flitted down Cade’s way.

 _‘Fine!’_ Cade gasped back, more struck than anything else for a beat. After more waves of _Assurance_ —at the very least the promise of _No-danger, don’t-need-yet-love-you-loveyou!—_ Optimus seemed satisfied but slowly the bond seemed to be widening. Optimus was heading toward his position.

Cade didn’t notice that, he only noticed what was in front of them, who he had almost tripped over.

Skywarp had been wrong—or leading them into a trap maybe?—because there _was_ someone else still functioning on this planet.

Cade gaped uselessly, eyes wide as they would go as the Transformer rose slowly and made another sound of dislike and aggravation, and then halted, the debris covering him keeping him pinned, his wounds creaking and frame quivering just a hair; he was damaged too.

 _‘…thou knows this soul, young heir?’_ Cal muttered, sensing Cade’s anxiety.

“Yeah. Yeah, this, is uh—this is Soundwave.” Cade swallowed. “I think.”

Beside him and folded down so he was closer to Grimwing’s shoulder and just above Cade’s height, Skywarp whined in the back of his pipes and shifted in anxiety. Cade didn’t blame the little Seeker, because this wasn’t any old Decepticon, this was Soundwave himself.

And unsurprisingly, Soundwave looked _pissed._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Skywarp: *points at soundwave* He did it.  
> Cade: Did he or you just trying to get him in trouble.  
> Skywarp: ….my reputation proceeds me, I see.  
> Cade: it sure fucking does buddy.
> 
> Also, in Cade’s defense, Prime told him to go help whoever he could. So Cade did.


	5. Moonlight

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So including 93% Stardust, Resonance and ofc this fic that’s roughly 110k and about 3.5 in-fic years before we get to the nsfw. ….well I wanted slow burn.
> 
> NSFW: voyeurism, onesided consenting masturbation (It’s about damn time ain’t it!)

_“They do something dumb one day like kiss you, or smile at you, and then your life isn't your own anymore. Love takes hostages.”_ –Neil Gamian

**Chapter 4. Moonlight**

First Skywarp, now Soundwave? What the hell was going on, on this little planet?

_‘…and why the hell did that one autobot act like the cons and bots were just…living here all copasetic?’_

The mech certainly looked different than the last time he’d seen the security master. He was blue and white for one thing, but seemed as small as ever, more Bee’s size than slender Starscream or towering Megatron. And he was blocky, very blocky.

_‘Ah, yes. Far from Earth, then.’_ Mused the Talisman, which seemed like a hint to Cade, but one he couldn’t dwell on.

Soundwave looked strange, but he also didn’t look like he was in great condition. He must have scanned a new form—or, perhaps an old form? –and Cade tried to make a mental note of the mech so he could draw it later in his journal. He wondered if Optimus would recognize the square, chunky little bot. He wondered where Megatron was; too, because the two were never far apart…

But the damage done to Soundwave looked worse the closer Cade inched up. Old wounds were under new wounds. Whatever brawl he’d gotten into, Soundwave hadn’t had the upperhand for long. And then somehow he’d been trapped here, and left to die like a dog in the street. His ruby colored visor was cracked, and every move he could manage was a weak twitch that only caused sparks to fly. His left arm dangled, his cassette dock was wrenched half open, and looked empty, the glass shattered and splintered, gaping. If Soundwave was like any other Transformer, the damage had already exposed a good deal of his core, that much Cade was sure of. Cade couldn’t see it, but Soundwave was moving like he was damaged deeper there, in fact…and that cassette dock…

“There’s four of ‘em, least there used to be,” Cade snapped to life, getting space between himself and the deadly mech as he spun around, expecting an ambush.

“Ravage, Laserbeak—uh, the twins, Frenzy and Rumble…okay, where?” Nothing. Cade’s skin prickled under the Talisman’s living armor.

Soundwave uttered an absolutely nightmare noise of reproach, all static and angry, and Cade had the good sense to flinch. The mech didn’t like hearing those names on Cade’s lips, which caused Cade to wonder if they weren’t safe either somewhere, and Soundwave was worried about them.

_‘Bee always said the only ones Soundwave cared for more than Megatron was his cassettes. Hmm.’_

“C’mon, we gotta help him, Cal. He’s gunna get crushed under all that shit…he’s not built like Optimus or Bee.”

_‘He is a Decepticon.’_ The talisman reminded with a huff. _‘Although, the Seeker is as well…so I don’t know why I argue with you…’_

“He’s a Transformer who needs help,” Cade corrected with a growl of his own, “and he’s had plenty of chances to attack us.”

_‘With what weapon?’_ Cal sniffed again, sounding sour as Cade felt.

“Just shaddup and gimme a hand!” the inventor snapped out loud before he could stop himself, causing Soundwave to give him a startled, wary look as his anger bled down to confusion. Yeah, Cade probably did look crazy, a tiny little miniature Optimus Prime with a medic symbol emblazoned on his left shoulder, the Talisman coating his body and him talking to himself. 

Cade took immediate advantage of Soundwave’s frozen unease, and got to work. A moment later there was a soft chirp and Grimwing’s own grunts as the two helped, even injured Skywarp kept his bad wing out of the way and was helping, digging into the planet’s soft gravel and creating wiggle room for Soundwave. The Seeker didn’t move from under Grimwing’s folded emerald wing, but Cade didn’t blame him. 

_‘Seekers are team players—I forget that a lot. Mostly because they were always on the wrong fucken team, the team trying to murder me and my bots.’ _

And then suddenly Soundwave was free, and he shoved the last of the debris, unfolding into a different shape before thrusters whined and cried, splitting the air and curling Cade’s nose as he ducked for cover under the Predacon who leapt to shield him incase Soundwave attacked.

Soundwave’s form curved upward, rocketing through the atmosphere of the smoky, crumbling planet.

And then he was gone.

“Cade?” rang a voice deep as the ocean and twice as dark in its anxiety. “Cade!”

Cade heard a startled whine and a scramble of plating, and realized quickly what could happen if he didn’t move now.

“Fine!” For added measure he sent pulsing, high waves of _Assurance_ and _Warmth_ and _Honesty._

A moment later a response swept over his mind, tingling and heavy like a blanket. _‘Here.’_ Optimus drawled across the bond with certainty and relief in his soul.

Grimwing rumbled in greeting and backed off the dusty inventor, but Cade noticed the Predacon swept a wing down his flank, and noticed Skywarp crouched and staring from that sheltered side with wide, horrified optics.

“We found a survivor—uh, okay we found _two_ survivors but only one stuck around.” Cade swallowed as Optimus stepped over a pile of rubble like Cade would a plastic cup in the street.

“And he’s trusting us to get him home in one piece, big rig.” _‘So please, honor that. Trust me.’_

It was a complicated thought, and Cade could see the confusion muddle the regal Prime’s features.

“A Decepticon.” It wasn’t an assumption, and Cade wondered when Prime had learned to read him so damn well.

“Yeah. Optimus—Skywarp.” Cade gestured and Grimwing curled his wing out of the way with a soft rustle of steel. “Skywarp, mee—oh, buddy, it’s okay—“

Because the instant his hiding spot was taken from him and he noticed he wasn’t crouched in shadow Skywarp of the Elite Trine hissed like a wild cat in soft defiance. This fierce display was somewhat watered down when he also scrambled back on all fours, darting under Grimwing’s belly and rehiding his injured and hanging wing.

But Optimus’ sharp optics had seen enough, and flashed with understanding.

“He is grounded.” Prime observed to his medic, who was now standing down by his pede and nodded solemnly.

“And he really _really_ needs our help. Soundwave was the second bot—and he could still fly. And uh, he did.”

Silence filled the space between them, suffocating with its awful realization.

“…he left me behind.” Skywarp’s weak voice came out from under the Predacon’s girth. “…why did he leave me behind?”

_‘Would Starscream have?’_ Cade wondered.

_‘Nay.’_ Whispered the Talisman.

_‘Ouch.’_ Cade tossed the Seeker a sympathetic look. His team maybe wasn’t perfect, and they weren’t Prime’s original band of autobots, Cade knew, but even Crosshairs wouldn’t leave a comrade behind—especially since he knew Drift would be an ice pick in his audial about honor and the sort if he did.

“Skywarp’s scared, big rig. And he’s pretty small and—”

“Don’t remind me!” The ebony and violet Seeker moaned as he tried to burrow deeper out of sight of Prime’s sizzling optic light.

“Provided Grimwing keeps an eye on him, I don’t see why not.” Optimus hummed agreeably after a moment of thinking it over.

“That okay with you Grim?” Cade hoped. The Predacon snorted, ignored Blackbeak’s saws of protest and nodded. Skywarp peeked out from between Grimwing’s stout legs, looking a little relieved, especially when Prime’s attention was fully off him and onto the minicon by his pedes. The Seeker observed the two with no small amount of wonder and amazement.

The matter settled, Prime turned and offered his servo to Cade, who wasted no time hopping aboard the titan.

“Find anyone on your end, Optimus?” the inventor asked as he settled on Prime’s shoulder.

“Only some Energon, and some bodies. This planet is dying…it has been dying for a while.”

“But _something_ sped it along.” Along with plenty of other deaths—a slaughter for some reason. Energon wasn’t the cause. Revenge?

“Yes.” Optimus sounded sore, and Cade shivered but couldn’t blame him. Prime’s sense of honor was insane, and he valued it very highly. Cade was pissed too, but mostly he was worried about fixing up who they could find.

Those who wanted to be fixed up, that is…

“Soundwave got the hell’outta dodge, Prime, and I think we should too.” Cade managed. “if we’re all that’s left on this planet…”

Optimus, following his line of thinking, nodded strictly and took a knee, allowing Cade to hop into his palm.

Prime rose as Cade scaled his arm easily and settled down against his curved shoulder, magnetizing against the mighty frame of the Prime as thrusters below whined to life.

Cade heard Grimwing roar and turned down to see him toss his neck, and saw Skywarp’s smaller frame scramble with much less grace atop the monster’s shoulders, and with a bound and a push the Predacon was in the air beside them, beak aimed up, wings splayed. Emerald and gold bounced off his glittering wings, and Cade watched as the little planet grew smaller, and the fires and smoldering smoke shrank until they couldn’t be seen anymore.

Maybe they _had_ arrived too late to save everyone, and they surely had a mystery on their hands to deal with now.

But Cade couldn’t consider it a total loss. Not with Energon and an alive if shaken Skywarp joining them as they returned to their ship.

One way or the other, they could get home. That much Cade was certain of.

Optimus had never let him down before, after all.

* * *

Cade felt a strange, bitter sensation of sweeping exhaustion prickle at him after they returned to the little ship. The Talisman melted and shrunk, folding with soft rustles until it skated lazily into Cade’s pocket, where the heavy metal disc would lie in wait. Cade wasn’t sure if it was his tiredness, or Cal’s, or Prime’s, but what he did know was he wasn’t done yet. Sleep would have to come later, when the ship was on its way, when Optimus was sure no one and nothing was following them. When Cade did any repairs he could do. Grimwing and Optimus busied themselves quickly with recalibrating and checking and refueling, leaving Cade alone with Skywarp, who had leapt from the Predacon’s shoulders to the top of the old metal storage crates in the back of the ship. With his black hide and dark details, the young Seeker was only a pair of ruby optics staring over the rim of his perch, and he looked so much like a wary barn cat Cade fought a snicker but didn’t fight the light smirk that played across his lips as he slunk toward the Seeker’s very obvious hiding spot.

“Alright Skywarp, I can take a look at that wing now, if you want.” He said, going for casual, hands splayed to signal harmlessness and honesty. “Doesn’t make much sense to keep suffering—and you’ll only make yourself a target off the ship, right?”

He saw the need for logic as much as any father who had to raise a kid did. Teenagers liked to pretend they hated logic…but they used it well whether they admitted it or not. He wasn’t far off in guessing perhaps this young Seeker might think the same. Bee absolutely did, and even though he was stubborn, Cade was even more. It was one of the things the inventor prided himself most on.

Skywarp grumbled, peered over the edge and then leaned back. “You come up here.” he demanded flatly, so assured of himself Cade only snorted, and nodded.

“Awright.”

Perhaps Skywarp didn’t think he’d get that far considering his click of confusion when Cade acquiesced so easily, but in a few moments Cade had scaled the container and was up settled by the Seeker’s flank. Skywarp was tense, his plating half flared like a spooked parrot.

“…you really are a human.” The Seeker leaned in and seemed to sniff him, which was odd but Transformers were odd. Alive but metal, human but alien. Animal but machine. Maybe Seekers just…used different senses than the grounders Cade knew best? Drift was their only triple-changer, and right now Skywarp seemed like he was in his own class of mannerisms and behaviors. Cade made a point to remind himself to update his worn journal on models, and give Seekers their own section.

“I told you I was.” Cade reminded with a smile. “Lift your arm, there, good. Okay, this shouldn’t hurt, it’ll feel weird though. Least that’s what Bee tells me.”

Oddly, Skywarp seemed more interested in his words than his work. Maybe because he was tired, maybe because the damage was enough that Skywarp was willing to allow Cade to do what he could to ease the discomfort. Cade parted panels and nudged cording aside, wincing at the damage he found that was already trying to heal itself, but poorly. Skywarp’s repair systems were either faulty, or more likely, judging by the dim glow of his half-mast optics, he was just low on Energon. Starving, or close to it. Hungry human bodies didn’t heal well—same for Transformers.

“Prime’s scout? You work on him?” Skywarp asked, then followed it with what was perhaps his true question, “And Prime _lets_ you? He hates humans. They killed his—his medic.” It sounded like Skywap was about to blurt Ratchet’s name, and Cade was glad he didn’t. That would forever be a sore subject with his commander.

Cade glanced quietly over at Skywarp, deciding as much as Skywarp might play airhead, he was sharper than he let on. That was very much a Bumblebee trait too, and Cade couldn’t help but wonder what other parallels the Elite Trine shared with his good friend.

“Me and Optimus got that in common.” Cade shrugged, “Humans _do_ suck. Not all of us. And I’m a better person because of him. So. Yeah—to answer your question, he lets me. Bee and I ran the team when he was gone, after all.”

“Before the Deceiver came back?”

“Before she came back, yeah.”

Seemingly satisfied, and apparently too tired to probe any further, Skywarp nodded and settled into a more comfortable lounge, keeping his bad and damaged side exposed and easy for Cade to access from almost any angle.

“Damn, these lines are dry…even the whole ones. You leaked a lot of Energon, buddy.” Cade sealed the exposed chunks, nodding in satisfaction that he’d effectively patched the damaged wiring. It would regenerate slowly, on its own, or if Skywarp didn’t want to wait they could remove it and install new ones—but that was a luxury they really didn’t have right now. Thankfully the Seeker seemed to understand. He winced at the soddering but his dragging wing remained limp as a wilted leaf in the Texan sun.

“I know.” Skywarp said, and it nearly ended in a whimper. The noise stung Cade’s heart—no one should suffer, but Transformers suffering…

“Hey, big rig, c’mere a second.” He decided right there that if he was going to be bonded to a Prime, he ought to make the most of it. Enjoy it even, especially since Cal reminded him a few times now he was, technically, a commander alongside Prime. And a commander could ask a Transformer just about anything—and beyond that, some commanders made or forced. But like Prime, Cade believed in catching flies with honey instead of vinegar.

The glittering titan glanced toward his voice in mute interest, then immediate recognition when he spotted Cade by Skywarp and turned from the ship’s main control frame.

“What is it, Cade?” his deep tenor was gentler than usual—either because he was addressing the little inventor he loved or because he saw Cade over by a now very tense and very spooked Skywarp.

“Skywarp’s Energon levels are in the fuckin’ basement. That stuff you guys found is good but I’d rather give him a little transfusion, something already filtered and easy on his tanks.” Shoving fresh and pure Energon would only yo-yo the Seeker’s energy levels and Cade had learned the hard way this wasn’t the best thing to do to a Transformer. Thankfully Drift had forgiven him.

“I understand.” Optimus nodded. “Take what you need.”

The Prime extended a tree trunk of an arm, exposing the underside where only silver steel was, none of his truck’s outer shell. And so the plating began to shift and part along a seam. Cade smiled in relief and earnest warmth, rising and crossing the short distance as the paneling folded neatly out of the way and a thick line, technically one of Prime’s veins, was exposed for his hands.

Skywarp was silent, either stunned mute from shock or fear, Cade couldn’t be sure. Cade followed the tubing that was thicker than his wrist along to its port to the crook of Prime’s elbow, right at the inner section, and gently pried it free and held it tight, and motioned Skywarp closer. When the tense Seeker was leaning close to Prime’s held out arm, Cade connected Prime’s Energon line to the one port in the Seeker’s shoulder, and let the Energon feed through.

Cade stoppered it every so often, listening and waiting for signs that he’d missed a spot. No leaks came through, and Skywarp didn’t yelp in pain.

“Looks like it was just one good swipe that took your wing out. That’s good. Less to repair, less for me to miss.” Cade hummed, more to himself than the two mechs, and when Skywarp’s wing began to flex and twitch with the new energon, he killed the transfusion and tugged Prime’s Energon line free.

“Thanks big rig, that oughta be plenty for now.” Cade patted the arm that had sealed itself back up, and shook out his own hand, the same hand Prime had offered on Cade’s side felt tingly, and light, as if it he had fallen asleep on it and the nerves had fallen asleep too.

“That’s new.” Cade frowned, giving a good shake of his arm. The pins and needles prickled, then began to fade. “I’ve taken Energon-transfusions from you a bunch a’times before…” mostly for quick in the field jobs, because whoever he was fixing was often half Prime’s size or only needed a little juice to get them running. He had also done the same to Cross and Drift, who shared everything it seemed, but Cade was almost always with Optimus these days—why not use the big guy’s Energon if he was willing?

“I wondered if you would feel it. You had one of my widest Energon lines, but not my main one.” Optimus leaned in with obvious interest in his glittering optics, and he smiled softly when Cade looked over with a frown.

“Another new normal for us, Cade Yeager.” He smiled soothingly at the man’s pout. “Nothing more. Something to be aware of for next time.”

“Yeah…”

And poor Skywarp, for his part, merely shuffled awkwardly back on his perch. Even atop the cargo he was barely at Prime’s torso height, no higher. The Seeker folded his limbs under his frame and seemed to settle in a strange nesting loaf, eyeing Prime but offering a slow blink down at the inventor when he wandered back over.

“Feel better?” Cade guessed, chuckling when the Seeker’s yawned widely and flexed his healed wing a few times, then folded it neatly along his black flank.

“Yeah.” Skywarp’s voice was lower and lazier, and his optics now a soft pink as he seemed to be settling toward a light but much needed recharge. “Doesn’t hurt…can feel my wing again.”

“I think I got your wounds patched, but I’ll do the heavy work later, okay? That _will_ hurt, and I think you need sleep before I go to town rebuilding the holes in your wing.” Cade patted the Seeker’s shoulder, a gesture he often served to Bee, who never liked the med bay and often refused to be worked on unless Cade did it outside in the sunshine or while Bee played a video game.

If the Seeker even noticed the pat was debatable, and soon Cade had quietly packed up his tools and slunk toward the Prime’s waiting hand. He stepped into it easily, settling into a crouch as Prime turned and moved them both away as quietly as someone his size walking on metal could manage.

“You did excellent work, Cade.” Optimus praised in a gentle rumble down at the inventor.

“Awh, that was nuthin’ Prime, you know that.” Cade handed his bag back to Prime’s free hand, and with pinched fingers he took the sack and stowed it safely away in one of his chest compartments that might equal his cab in his alt mode. “Just glad he got close enough to you for that to work. Good thing he’s so scrawny, you prolly didn’t need to give him much, didja?”

“Anything I did was gladly given. And we have enough Energon for us and the ship, Skywarp included.” Prime explained. “The next stop will be our final before Earth, and shortly after that we will be back in the solar system you are familiar with.”

“Cool.” That put Cade at some ease, and he relaxed back as Prime settled by the side wall, half between the cargo hold and the main front of the transport ship.

Skywarp was silent now, likely in recharge. Grimwing and Blackbeak had finished whatever tasks Prime had given to them, and they two were settling down away from them, speaking in hushed Cybertronian to each other and Blackbeak was grooming the Predacon’s shoulder plating by nibbling and scraping with the tip of his sharp beak. It was a much appreciated bonding routine Cade had spied them doing quite a bit, and he smiled but turned his eyes away from the intimate scene and up to the Prime who he noticed gazing down at him.

“Something on your mind?” Cade managed, feeling his ears and cheeks burn when he noticed how reverent and admiring that stare was.

Optimus shook his helm and met his sparkmate’s eyes. “I am just considering how lucky I am, Cade, to have meet you. I have seen a lot of what there is to see across the Universe, met many souls, saw worlds end and new ones begin. But, when it comes to _YouandI,”_ Prime slipped easily into Cybertronian, knowing full well Cade could understand it far easier than he could a mere week ago, “I cannot quiet explain how fortunate I feel, how pleased I am, to have met the other side of my soul.”

“Y-yeah?” Cade hid his embarrassment, and went for suave and smooth just like his commander could pull off. “Jeez, look Prime, uh…me too.” Well, he tried.

Prime’s lips quirked, his optics shuttering once in amused affection as Cade flushed beet red and scrubbed at his cheek with a hand, every inch of his body bleeding embarrassment and self-irritation.

“I mean, uh, all that. You just…you say shit a lot easier than me, big fella.” Cade decided honesty was, and always would be, the best policy here. He wasn’t wrong. “But I do. I _love_ you, yanno? There’s so much more to it than that but…”

“You feel strongly about me, your actions remind me of that every day, Cade. I don’t ever question it, I assure you.”

And that helped, and somehow it was exactly what Cade needed to hear.

Finally allowing that creeping weariness to engulf him—and wondering now if Optimus wasn’t fighting it off for the both of them earlier?—Cade settled against the Prime’s front and uncurled lazily, tossing one leg to dangle into Prime’s lap and his other to shove under the dangling one. He yawned, pressed against Prime’s dark steel stomach-parts and hummed.

Remembering where he’d ended up last night, Cade decided why bother pretending and he rose, scaling up a short distance as he felt Optimus lay back against the wall in response. Now he was less vertical and more comfortably sat back, but able to rise at a moment’s notice. Even at rest, Optimus was a warrior, and Cade could never forget it. 

_‘I suppose his instincts will become mine one day, and vice versa. Huh._ ’ It wasn’t a negative thought, but the very concept of it all puzzled Cade. How much would they bleed into one another? Sure, Cade was young, but he had millions of years of evolution in his very genes, and he was realizing more and more that Transformers and humans were already so alike in soul and spirit—why not there, too? So much of him and Optimus were the same at their basic notions.

Regardless of the mysteries still surrounding their budding sparkbond, Cade couldn’t say he regretted it. Not for a second. This odd closeness and sharing of each other’s souls felt so right and safe that it took Cade a minute to realize they had never, technically, even had sex yet. That was jarring—not so much the concept but the realization his initial reaction was on the mark. Hell, Prime had seen him naked but changing shirts behind your truck wasn’t something Cade considered sexual, and until now he hadn’t realized that maybe him stripping down was embarrassing for the Prime. Then again—maybe not. Transformers were different than humans especially about armor. Being so exposed but trusting Prime to cover him while changing was probably a point of pride for the protective commander. He and Emily certainly enjoyed each other’s bodies in the way two clumsy, hormone-addled teenagers sometimes did. It wasn’t great sex at first but that wasn’t uncommon when you were two kids learning your own bodies, but it was fun and Em certainly enjoyed herself, and Cade of course did to. He’d gotten used to relying on that closeness with her—only to quit cold turkey when she’d gotten sick and left him. Raising Tessa already didn’t leave him much time for anything recreational, and by the time _she_ was finally allowed to date and the ban was lifted on him, well. By then, Cade had joined the Autobots. And had gone on the run for two some years. And dating while you were a ghost to the government meant not getting close to anyone, not just because anyone could be spying on them but also due in part to Prime’s team already being overprotective as hell. Cade swore the president and his secret service were easier targets than he was somedays with those lugnuts, the dinobots included.

Then Prime had returned, and…time had a way of passing no matter what you were up to. Cade was busy these days, and sometimes a quick shower was the only chance to get his rocks off and destress—with everything else going on, he didn’t really mind it. He wasn’t a teenage boy anymore with more hormones than sense, but he did miss being intimate with someone. And sometimes, a guy just wanted to be fucked.

But, if he was going to be honest, Cade also didn’t feel a burning need to seek another woman’s company after joining the Autobots, as nice as Vivi was and as soft and warm she could be, what was between them seemed more sibling-like than romantic. Or another man’s, because sometimes he found he didn’t much care so long as both parties were consenting and wanted to have a little fun. What was the harm in it? Growing up in rural back water Texas, of course, meant _that_ had to be kept hidden from prying eyes and gossip—which was just fine with Cade. He’d been a private person before the bots, and he was only a more closed off one now to his fellow humans. The first time he’d growled at Viv instead of using words had reminded him of that. Cade liked to blame the government’s treatment of his friends being the reason for his hostility, for corrupting his mindset against his own kind. Crosshairs usually snickered and told him to say it out right—Cade just hated humans to begin with, and at least now he was finally somewhere he was fraggin’ appreciated. Coming from rude and boisterous Crosshairs, Cade knew that was a compliment, and that he wasn’t imagining the fact his team saw him as one of their own.

But those years of evolution _were_ certainly starting to get louder all of a sudden, come to think of it. He had a partner, didn’t he? An attractive one—Cade would argue that to anyone who dared judge his choice of lover—a willing one, most likely. All he had to do was ask, if Prime said no, and only wanted a platonic sparkbond, that was fine.

But if he didn’t…if he wanted more…to **feel** more…

It all broiled down to learning each other. Cade realized there were still things he didn’t know about Optimus Prime, and his curiosity ignited like a campfire. Oh, did he want to know. Especially about this, about sex and how it was when your partner could snap you like a twig but loved you so much he treated you like glass—maybe got a little rough when you wanted it?—

Above him, Optimus’ gaze flickered down in interest.

_‘Whoops—‘_

Cade shifted slightly, feeling a twinge of unbidden need sparking down below. Sparkbonding was absolutely more intimate than interfacing, if Cade’s team had taught him anything it was that Transformers didn’t have the same concepts of sexuality and love and pleasure as humans—it was all the same at their core but there were enough variations and differences that he had picked up on over the years. Transformers were more…open, a bit more animalistic about what they called fragging. A quick frag could be done with anyone, a spark bond was one mate, for life, and very little room for argument. Although Cade had never bucked up the courage to ask, he knew Drift and Crosshairs went at it like a couple rabbits, but seemed perfectly content to _never_ sparkbond. He also knew Bee seemed to pick up human traits in his mind too, preferring one partner he adored and usually that partner was human—Cade knew Bee had known a few humans, but only two he had had sex with, and while Bee was very attached to Hot Rod, the two never seemed to wander off except for races or play fights.

Cade had discovered more about Transformer’s interfacing than he had planned when one day he walked outside of his trailer and found the dinobot’s had laid a few eggs. When Cade had freaked out and demanded how the hell _that_ happened, Hound had laughed and said, “Interfacing ain’t just for pleasure, Cade, didja think that was all it was good fer!?”

But when Cade lectured the Dinobots on more mouths to feed, they agreed sheepishly and promised to not let any more eggs develop. And that was the end of that. Apparently.

…which was spooky, but kind of cool, that Transformers could just decide to turn all that production off, like a goddamn switch and still enjoy interfacing without worrying about consequences. Or, unplanned miracles.

“Cade?” Prime’s low purr snapped Cade from the cobwebs of his mind and the inventor spooked a little, then quickly slapped on a comforting and reassuring smile.

“Kinda wish we had somewhere more… _private,_ Optimus.” Cade finished his little climb and settled, wedged comfortably in the center of Prime’s chestplating. Below him, that spark thrummed like a constant rush of a waterfall, buzzing on the edge of Cade’s senses and trailing out every so often to tickle and tease him. He shivered, but not from cold. “Yanno?”

_‘I just tried to subtly drop a hint to Optimus-fucking-Prime about fucking somewhere. Cade Yeager, you are a fucking idiot.’_

“It would be nice.” Prime agreed calmly, politely ignoring the way Cade almost toppled off his frame in shock and his jaw dropped open. “Sparkbonds do require refreshes, especially early on to take properly. And…well, it just feels good to do so, I won’t pretend it doesn’t.”

Cade blushed richly, then decided he didn’t care one iota. A pleasant, familiar shiver whispered up his spine.

“Will it connect us faster?” Cade asked. “If we…uh…interface?” If Prime was surprised Cade knew the Transformer term for sex, he hid it well.

“No,” Prime admitted, “It is more for…our own comfort, and enjoyment. A reminder that isn’t necessary but _is_ pleasurable.”

And then a thick and heavy digit glided down Cade’s spine, starting from top to bottom in a single confident stroke. The touch went from tender and thoughtful to electric and sizzling without no warning, and Cade shivered even harder. His fingers fumbled, gripped the jewel colored plating he was resting against tightly.

“But it _does_ heighten our marks on each other. Warns many to stay away from what is ours—from what is **Mine**.”

Cade groaned, feeling his heart—his spark?—tighten and then a knot begin to pool in his lower stomach. From zero to sixty he was half-hard and realized a second later, though his haze, that Optimus knew _exactly_ what he was doing and seemed to be taking great pleasure in doing so. And while Optimus himself seemed absolutely entranced and focused and ready, he was not exposing anything or distracted to the point speaking was becoming hard.

“Jesus,” Cade breathed, then cursed again, the words soon unintelligible due to him realizing he had to stifle himself. “Prime—“ he tried to hiss, but there was no heart in it.

_‘Did_ he want Optimus to stop?’ the sparkbond suddenly seemed to demand, searching his heart for the truth. It took a startled Cade a second to realize it was Prime who was asking him. Cade melted at the Transformer’s thoughtfulness. He was a flesh and bone and nothing compared to Optimus’, well, everything—from his might to his mind—but Prime was taking care of him like always, and downright pleased to do so.

_‘No.’_ Cade’s own little spark whispered back, betraying him utterly. _‘Don’tstop~…but…’_

**But?**

“We just—c’mon everyone’s sleeping…” his attempts were feeble, and when Prime probed his soul to get his consent a second time with calm askance and expectation, Cade crumpled fully into the sensations. Okay, hell no, he didn’t want to stop—and hell yes he did want this! Hot pleasure wormed it’s way along his body and his bucked his hips for an ounce of friction, that lazy servo that he had seen rip out spines of Decepticons tracing the same trail again and again, up, down, up down. The effect was hypnotic and Cade purred, sinking deeper and squirming as his dick ached.

“They are in recharge, and nowhere near us.” Prime murmured lightly back, and his servo slid to cover Cade’s frame from sight even more. Honestly, if either Predacon or Seeker were awake, and if they bothered to glance over, he and Optimus were sitting in the darkest part of the ship. And now Cade was hidden from view, but there was still a chance.

Somehow, that slippery thought of risk, the game of being caught only egged poor Cade on more. What harm was there?

_‘The hell? I was never into that reverse-voyeur shit before—Unless!?’_

His head shot up, and Prime’s twinkling optics blazed with delight, clearly fascinated and focused on him.

“Kinky fucker,” he scolded the Prime with no bite in his curse, who only smirked when he noticed Cade understood.

“You have a change of clothes in your bag.” Optimus remarked, as if this made it perfectly alright to be driven wild still clothed and driven to release, and also risk being caught!

“That doesn’t mean I need to ruin my clothes so you can get a show,” Cade muttered through gritted teeth, deciding another shameless buck or two was perfectly acceptable. His jeans were past tight and uncomfortable now, and he rose a bit, shoving that hand to give him a foot or two of space to move. The hand retreated obediently, but stayed covering him, acting casual.

“It doesn’t?” And it was so playful and utterly rare from the big mech Cade’s heart melted all over again. The strange Jacuzzi of arousal and love for his sparkmate washed his thoughts askew and Cade found that his points about not doing this seemed so silly and stupid.

“I could switch to alt mode.” Optimus offered almost too casually. “That would give us more privacy…”

“Everyone _would_ hear you transforming, dude, don’t fucken pretend…” Cade trailed off and allowed another soft moan, but when the noises of _pleasure_ and _want_ felt too hard to soften he pushed his fist against his teeth and bit down. Another pulse of relentless pleasure and **feels-good** from Prime’s side of the sparkbond coursed through Cade, who buckled from the weight of it, his eyes rolling back into his head as he rode the pleasure and bucked his hips lazily.

Balancing on his knees and praying to any gods that wouldn’t condone him for this in the first place, Cade maneuvered belt and zipper loose and down in that order. He’d only just freed his cock when Prime’s free servo—thankfully not the one shielding him from sight, and also thankfully Cade still couldn’t hear anything besides the low rumbles of Transformers in recharge—and knocked his small hand aside so that his pointer finger fit neatly between the man’s legs, and the finger curled up in a low, purposeful arc. There was hardly any force in the motion, just enough pressure placed to spread Cade’s legs a bit, but he was balanced and braced enough that all he had to worry about was the feeling of chilly steel brush against his dick and balls, and then the sensation was mostly gone because his underwear and jeans were in the way, still crumpled down at his hips. The pressure lingered in his memory, addictive as hell.

And this brought a whole new chorus of noises from the inventor, making clumsy fingers grip Prime’s shielding hand by the thumb, and his left hand splaying out against the flame design of the mech’s chest. He rocked his hips shamelessly now and with more certainity, heart pounding and lungs forcing his chest to expand as the tempo rose—

And then Cade’s ever broiling and ever thinking mind betrayed him with sharp jaws that bit down, cutting through his haze of pleasure and stimulation. After all, here he was, half naked, fully hard, kneeling on Optimus Prime’s chest, maybe three feet from his helm, shielded by a splayed, hovering metal hand and only the light of Prime’s optics to see anything by—and Cade’s brain immediately ruined the moment by going _‘Do I look ridiculous? This is an ancient, god-like war machine and I’m here rutting against his knuckle like a bunny.’_

He…wasn’t too sure how he could take such a statement if he was.

Was he?

His fear prickled between them, and Optimus caught scent of it within seconds—and promptly misunderstood it. Perhaps Cade was having second thoughts about this, which was perfectly reasonable. The Prime withdrew his presence across the sparkbond—he recoiled, retreated, and his optics tightened in worry and confusion—Cade couldn’t blame the big guy, but his own anxiety kept him paralyzed, his soul freezing in fright when Optimus started to pull back—

“Cade—?” the hushed voice didn’t even reach the inventor’s ears. Cade was two years ago and a million miles away—literally in this case. His brain stuck like a needle on a record player—

* * *

Optimus: rocketing through the atmosphere, and then two years left alone running and stealing and praying for the Prime to return—

Optimus: real and alive and slaughtering his fellow autobots as he advanced on Vivian, optics violet and violent—

Optimus: tearing poor Bee limb from fucking limb, sea salt stinging Cade’s eyes as he crawled atop Prime much like he was right now, willing to die even as he believed in Optimus Prime until the mech crushed him with his own hand if he choose to, which it seemed Nemesis Prime was perfectly willing to do if not for Bee’s attacks—

Optimus: downed, humiliated, on all fours, helm bowed and fight extinguished as the guardian Knights declared his punishment for treason was to be Death—

Optimus: turning away to return to Cybertron and _leave_ Cade, leave behind the silly, failed backyard inventor who had only lost everything and given up years of his life for that one moment in Quintessa’s lair—and when Optimus Prime left so would Bee, Crosshairs, Hound, Drift, and every fucking member of his family that protected and trusted and understood him in a way only Emily had—

* * *

**Cade. _Enough._ **

The voice burst through him like a thunderclap, so loud and old he thought perhaps they had just woken everyone up, that perhaps Prime had shouted the man’s name. But he hadn’t. He blinked, his deer in the headlights stare fractured as he gasped and sank forward, jeans still slumped round his knees, boxers pushed aside, erection vanishing and his own frame collapsing nearly to nothing if not for the fact his instincts kicked a neuron and his hands caught him as he dropped.

Beneath his sweaty palms, Optimus’ plating heaved, slow as an ocean’s tide. Cade stared across at his commander, unseeing and unsure.

**Copy.** Optimus ordered him, and without questioning, without _caring,_ Cade obeyed blindly. He mimicked those deep, slow intakes and listened intently to the hum of engines just beneath his small frame. With something to do, Cade’s mind sank away from its fears. His heart—the real, pumping organ and not the metaphorical one—beat slower as his lungs heaved oxygen slowly through his body.

**Steady, my sparklight.** Optimus’ voice rumbled in the back of his mind, so goddamn encouraging and calm Cade felt every hair on the back of his neck prickle in delight and understanding. Everything was alright.

He was fine. He was safe. Optimus was here.

**Forgive me.**

Cade shook his head before the Prime could finish the push of thought, and, unpracticed and unknowing how to project so perfectly like that across their sparkbond, he leaned in close.

“No, no it’s not…not yer fault, Prime,” Cade stared helplessly up into that regal visage he loved so much, studying it like a drowning man seeing an island. “I dunno what happened, what was—?”

“Sparkbonds…share _everything_ , my friend.” Prime whispered soothingly back. “I mistook your fear, and when I withdrew your spark—your soul—acted very…frightened. I’m sorry you became so scared.” That was an understatement, wasn’t it? But Prime seemed to be trying to save face for Cade’s sake, so bless him.

Cade swallowed, throat dry as he nodded, feeling empty.

“I will not leave you, Cade.” Said Optimus with a slow, understanding dip of his helm. “Not ever again.”

Cade’s quivering hands steadied him finally, and he leaned forward with purpose now, meaning to move. It was, admittedly, a slightly awkward shuffle of about two feet but Cade did it anyway. He glanced once at Prime’s widening optics but then refocused on those strange metal lips, and sank up against the Transformer’s helm fully as he reached out to take hold of Prime’s lower jaw with his entire hand and guide it up. His torso kind of gave out from under him, which was fine, because under him was Optimus anyway, and so Cade Yeager closed his eyes and pressed his own lips down against the steel ones of his partner, his best friend.

It occurred to Cade in the back of his mind, that kissing something roughly four times your size wasn’t easy.

Of course, as Emily used to tell him, he was never one to do things that were easy.

Below him, Prime’s warm frame positively thrummed, a low signal of contentment Cade knew well just by living with his Autobots for years. Bee made the noise when the Smiths came on the radio Cade listened to, sometimes Crosshairs made the low pulse when he and Drift returned from one of their…well, Cade called them stakeouts. Prime wasn’t the only one who knew how to save face. Regardless, it was a noise he had catalogued well. It was a noise of appreciation, happiness, and encouragement.

The inventor shifted, keeping a shoulder and a knee under him for balance as he rested both palms on either side of the Prime’s cheeks, one hand spreading more, fingers pressing into the slotted faceplates of Optimus as he slanted his head a bit, finding it easier to kiss Prime the more and more he learned how to do it. Cade peeked open an eye, just a bit, only to find it dark—Optimus had closed his optics too, then, and even better, the Transformer was absolutely kissing him back.

Across the sparkbond, Cade shyly reached out, like a pebble being tossed into the ocean.

The ocean surged back at him, washing over him fully. This time it was less about carnal, teasing pleasure and more complex, but Cade felt his body flush up deliciously in response anyway. The statement, at its core, was the same. Optimus loved him, and was here, in this moment. All that had happened was done with. 

**Yes?** Optimus demanded a third time through the sparkbond, and Cade made a mental note to ask Prime to teach him to project so easily and so perfectly. That would come in handy if they ever got separated—

_‘Shut up.’_ Cade begged of his own mind, _‘He just said he wouldn’t leave us!’_

**_Cade—_ **

“Y-yes,” Cade breathed on instinct now, peeling himself back to suck in lungfuls of air. Another lesson—Transformers didn’t breathe, but Cade most certainly did, and passing out while kissing Prime wasn’t going to soothe the big guy anymore about going through with this.

“Do what—do what you did earlier—before,” Cade barely remembered to keep his voice a hush.

He stopped, forcing himself to think through the haze of arousal spreading through his limbs, even as he knew Prime was gearing up to send another wave at him—

No. Still sleeping. The ship was running smoothly. Stars twinkled by them as they sped across the heavens, a strange Sci-Fi fantasy of a world that had become Cade Yeager’s life just because he saw the treasure among the junk in an old theater once.

Then Optimus’ side of the sparkbond seemed to yawn and swallow his side whole, tangling them so perfectly and pulsing **Want** and **Need** and **You?** That Cade was hard again in seconds and the heat pooling in his stomach turned to lava.

“Ah, fuck— _frag_ —“

Against him, Prime chuckled, “My team taught you to swear like us…”

“Y-yeah-huh, first thing.” Cade laughed back softly, once his brain could form words.

“Mmm,” hummed Prime as he leaned his helm toward Cade again, who understood and leaned right in as if being tugged on a lead.

And then they were kissing again, and it was _awesome._ Something about Prime initiating this kiss made it better than the last, though maybe that Cade’s own pride.

**Feel.** Came from the sparkbond, and the word was so broad and had so many meanings, Cade didn’t quite know what to make of it at first. It seemed when Prime was distracted—and certainly, making out seemed to make him so—and thus his own projection across their shared souls did get a little muddled—or at least less descriptive.

_Huh?_ Cade sent without thinking, then felt delighted when he realized his mental question made it through.

He was answered, not in words but in pictures, and the image just about sent him over the edge right there.

The mental image blossomed behind his eyes like so many fireworks making up a picture against the night sky—Cade, jerking himself off, roughly, only the image was half Cade and then it pulsed and changed abruptly, half a small, obsidian and gold mech. One shoulder with an Autobot symbol, one with a medic one, three audials on each side of his helm, splayed out sideways. He had a long Transformer-dick in his grip—wasn’t it called a spike? Something like that—and he was moaning—then the image was Cade once more.

“Oh—f-fuck,” Who had that transformer been? Cade’s mind tacked it on the corkboard of his mind, and promptly stopped caring. Later. Pleasure now.

This time Cade spared a free hand, keeping his head tilted down but he swayed and almost mindlessly obeyed the mental image, and he pulled reluctantly away from their kissing, now stroking himself closer to completion—

**Stop.** Optimus cut across his mind, smirking and playful once more.

Cade’s hand halted, and he whimpered, shivering as the peak held, his hips rocked meekly but soon they stopped to. Somehow his own orgasm strayed away, as if his mind simply would not, could not, process such a concept. Cade moaned, panted like a dog but couldn’t fight that command, and at his core, he didn’t want to.

“Jesus—fucking—Shit, how did…?”

About a foot from his body, Prime smirked at him, and Cade growled and lean in to venomously, possessively kiss the smug expression from that stupidly handsome and noble face.

_Jackass._ And of course that thought came across loud and clear.

Optimus laughed across the sparkbond, as if to prove a point. Still, his servo rose behind Cade, blanketing his frame and squeezing him with deliciously powerful strength. There was absolutely something intoxicating about being at the command of this powerful titan, and something equally dazzling when Cade realized a sparkbond went both ways—that he could, if he wanted, control Optimus this way. Couldn’t he?

Cade summoned a clear picture to himself—Optimus, legs spread lewdly, on his back, submissively slouched and spike in hand and having his own way with himself, lost in his own abandon and at Cade’s whim. It was a perfect picture, the only fault being Cade was not the size of Prime and couldn’t treat him the way he ought to be when he was displayed like this—but, oh, wouldn’t this work fine in the meantime?

Tentatively, he sent the picture across the sparkbond, thinking with every fiber of his being that wasn’t currently using his hand to stroke his now slick cock or his lips sealed and sucking against Prime’s lips.

The thought about undoing the stoic commander and bringing him to _his_ knees was immediately well received, and before Cade could gloat or snark back a wave of sexual hunger slammed into his soul on reflex and sank tight, washing him down into an under tow he couldn’t break free off—

“F-fuck, _Optimus—“_ His moan of release was smothered into Prime’s larger mouth, keeping him silent and not letting him howl like he really would have preferred to. The titan below him stiffened and tensed just as he did when Cade’s orgasm engulfed his brain, and several ropes of cum splattered Prime’s metal sternum and throat, dribbling a little ways.

Cade rode the orgasm high long as he could until he felt lightheaded, and when he collapsed this time it was into four curled fingers that met him before he could fall from Prime’s chest. Eyes closed and completely limp, Cade let Prime move him wherever he damn well wanted. He spared a few shaking muscles the ability to tuck himself back into his shorts and pants, even managed the buckle by some miracle.

Cade spent several minutes curled up as the afterglow seeped into his bones. He felt more than saw where he was placed, up against Prime’s jaw and audial horn, the good one. Cade leaned in until his nose bumped metal and he deposited a tiny kiss to the side of the Prime’s helm, lips curling when a low rumble welcomed his little, sweet gestures.

“Humans are very affectionate after interfacing.” Prime mused lowly, maybe more to himself than Cade, who yawned and answered anyway,

“Summ’of’us, yeh…” he slurred like a drunk but stroked and petted Prime’s jaw, with enough motor function he apparently didn’t alarm the commander.

“You are so tired after one overload.” Now Prime did sound a touch concerned, so Cade mustered up some strength and forced open his lead-heavy eyelids.

He found Prime cleaned, all traces of his little show gone, and the ship as it was before they started. Satisfied in more ways than one, the man slouched back down and wriggled until he was wedged his body shamelessly against the Transformer’s warm, living metal.

“S’a guy thing, Prime. I’m good.” another yawn, “Honest. What, do you guys have, like, unlimited energy for fraggin’?”

“Well, not unlimited but we _do_ have increased stamina for this sort of thing, yes.” Optimus sounded wholly and utterly amused. “Multiple overloads are common.”

“Damn, even…even mechs?” Cade asked.

“Yes, Cade, even mechs.” Prime’s chuckle was gentler than before, signaling perhaps Cade’s upcoming sleep wouldn’t be one he’d partake in alone.

“Gotta teach me bout all this…too, Op’ti’mush, yeh?” Cade’s tongue felt heavy as his eyes, so he closed them but tried to keep himself awake long enough to ask a question that burbled annoyingly to the top of his exhausted brain. His curiosity really never slept, did it?

“And who was…who was that guy before? The black and gold one—yer sparkbond…sent it ta’ me…”

Prime was silent, and the pregnant pause became awkward enough Cade cracked open an eye.

“…big rig…?”

“Ah—forgive me. I hadn’t realized you saw… _that_ part of the image. That is…that is _you,_ Cade. That is how I imagine you, if you were a Transformer not just in soul.”

“Oh.” said Cade, part confusion and part afterglow-muddled mind processing this over slowly. “Huh.”

But Cade was exhausted, and this little tidbit seemed oddly pleasing. Prime loved him so much he went to all the work of mentally designing a Transformer body for him? And for Prime to assert that he still thought of Cade as one of them in his soul helped a great deal too. Using the last effort he had, Cade repictured the ‘other him’ all gleaming, polished obsidian and golden outlines and details, right down to his medic symbol Prime gave him. No detail spared—Prime’s thoughtfulness was comforting as ever. Cade’s soul warmed, soothed by afterglow and love and warmth for the big commander currently holding him close.

“…damn, I’m pretty hot, huh?”

Optimus snorted, but rolled his helm and nuzzled Cade’s front in playful response.

“Sleep, Cade. I will be here when you wake.”

And Cade, perfectly spent in all the best ways and soul singing with the knowledge of utter safety in his sparkmate’s grip, grinned and rolled over, and obeyed. Happily.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I rewatched TLK and got a burst of inspo, hope you enjoyed! Thanks for all your patience, and every review is adored and appreciated <333

**Author's Note:**

> Soundtrack to the Resonance series: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1372Prk7LUMzc7Oe45wA9o?si=UkBZncbzQMWl2p2cX5SAmQ 
> 
> (please let me know if the link doesnt work or w/e)


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